


Hellbent

by LuckySeven



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Umino Iruka, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Jinchuuriki-centric, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Slow Burn, Team as Family, Tokubetsu Jonin squad aka Iruka Protection Squad, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, author did not ask for a lot of feelings and opinions about naruto and yet..., author has a lot of feelings and opinions about naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:07:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 125,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckySeven/pseuds/LuckySeven
Summary: Orochimaru makes an adjustment in his sales pitch to Sasuke in the Forest of Death and everything changes as a result.The Leaf is corrupt, Team Seven is disillusioned and Kakashi suddenly has to figure out how to keep three overpowered Genin safe on the run when the whole world wants to take a bite out of them.A couple of steps to the side may take the path an entirely new direction, a few words chosen differently and the story may have an entirely new ending, and a small band of underestimated and untethered ninja who choose each other above anything else may shift the whole world on its axis.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Temari/Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 1055
Kudos: 2372





	1. Isolated System

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In an isolated system, entropy can only increase.  
> \- The 2nd Law: Isolated System, Muse 
> 
> edited by loverinstinct

Kakashi flies across the rooftops of Konoha, the evening air sticky and oppressive. 

It's been an unusually humid day, even by Hidden Leaf standards. He can just make out the distant flash of lightning in the darkening sky as his feet silently meet the tiles of a roof before he launches himself to the next. Pakkun bounds in front of him intently following a scent. 

It's a scenario Kakashi has been in hundreds of times, tracking someone on the run. 

This time is different.

His nerves are alight and anxious adrenaline churns through his veins like a particularly vicious toxin. The feeling is only heightened by the prickle of electricity he can feel against his skin as the barometric pressure begins to drop precluding the arrival of what will most certainly be a torrential summer storm. The first ominous rumblings of thunder on the horizon compliment his unease.

He is worried, which is rare for the man who was once called Hound. 

Something is very wrong with the Genin of Team Seven. 

Kakashi is a man who makes a point to not care for many things. In his 26 years, life has taught him over and over how foolish caring is when everyone dies or is taken in the end. Hound had gotten very good at not caring. But the damned Genin slipped under his guard and now something is terribly wrong and Kakashi feels the quiet but familiar stirrings of panic. He's going to lose this too if he doesn't do something to fix it. The silver-haired Jonin stamps the useless trepidation down and goes over what he knows. 

The first clue that there is something going on with his students is that, as of about an hour ago, only two of them passed the preliminary matches for the third stage of the Chunin exam. 

The issue isn't actually that only two of them passed but that the wrong two did. 

Kakashi feels a bit guilty for thinking of it that way, a bit cold, but he's been with these kids for nearly half a year now and he would like to think he knows what they can and can't do. Besides, it's what they'd expect from him anyway. He strives for cold as his baseline. Cold keeps them safe from the curse that follows every person he's ever loved. Distance is better than dead. 

If you'd asked him his predictions of his team's performance two hours ago, Kakashi would have bet his entire Icha Icha collection on Naruto pulling a win despite bumbling around like an idiot at first, on Sasuke struggling with Orochimaru's curse mark but still coming out on top and on Sakura trying her best but not quite making the cut. It's just where he thought they stood with their current skill levels.

In reality, nothing had gone that way he expected.

Kakashi fights down a noxious wave of self-loathing that hisses in the voices of everyone he's ever lost that of course he wouldn't know where his students were actually at skills wise. He isn't a good enough sensei for that.

Gai is a good Sensei. So are Asuma and Kurenai. Iruka is an amazing Sensei. 

Minato was a good Sensei.

Kakashi is not Minato. 

He is barely a functioning human on a good day. On a bad day, well, Hound never had to be anything more than a weapon and that skin is easy to slip back into.  
Pakkun changes direction suddenly, disrupting the dark thoughts. His ninken is leading him along a scent trail that can't seem to make up its mind on a direction to take, fleeing in a panicked scramble across the hot roofs of Leaf. Kakashi supposes that's par for the course for his team. Planning of any serious kind takes teamwork, after all, something he knows his Genin are severely lacking. Though, he corrects himself as he remembers the silent way Sakura had watched Ino clutching her broken jaw, the ugly flash of rage in Naruto's eyes when Kiba ran his mouth before the fight, the hollow, directionlessness to Sasuke's movements... he's not sure he actually knows them at all right now.

"Obviously they don't want you to know them", the cruel voice in Kakashi's mind whispers again, "what would they want with a sensei as broken as you after all?"  
Kakashi presses the thoughts down ruthlessly, locks them behind layers and layers of fabricated apathy. 

"Get it together." he tells himself, trying to shake off the toxin that seeps out of his fucked up brain. 

He's clearly more rattled than he thought he was by Sasuke's fight. If you could even call it that. Sasuke had stepped out onto the match floor, bloodied and bruised and marked after fighting his way through the Forest of Death alongside his team and surviving a damned Sannin to make it to that point and without even looking at his opponent the Uchiha had announced "I forfeit."

His voice had been so void of expression that Kakashi had thought for a moment it was one of his student's rare deadpan attempts at humor. But then the Genin had turned on his heel and walked stiffly back to Naruto and Sakura, leaning against the wall near them with an empty look in his eyes. Kakashi has never seen Sasuke simply give up like that. He wouldn't have even guessed it was something the raven-haired boy was capable of. Sasuke forfeiting his chance at becoming a Chunin is still the lesser of the things that have Kakashi's hackles up though. 

After the other matches had ended, after Sakura had punched Ino into unconsciousness without a word to her former best friend, after Naruto had thrown Kiba into a wall with a bit too much of a red glow in his eyes, his Genin had up and vanished.

He shouldn't have left them alone for even a second he realizes now. Sasuke wasn't the only one acting out of character. But Kakashi had still turned to speak to Gai for a moment, only long enough to ask if Lee would be okay, and when he looked back Team Seven was gone without a trace.

"Stupid, weak Kakashi", says the voice that sounds like Minato/Kushina/Itachi/Shisui/Obito/Rin/Father. 

Kakashi ignores it like he always does and leaps to the next stretch of roof. Finding his students shouldn't be a problem. He is an elite Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village, Kakashi no Sharingan, the man who's copied a thousand jutsu. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke may be ninja in training but they are still 13 year old kids.  
Kakashi had realized nearly immediately that the Genin had disappeared and he'd darted out of the Hokage tower to extend his senses and find their familiar Chakra signatures, (Naruto bright and spilling like sunbeams at noon, Sasuke cool, deep and dark, and Sakura steady and smooth as a stone). 

He had come up completely blank. 

Of course, Kakashi isn't one of the best trackers in Konoha for his Chakra sense alone and so after summoning Pakkun and giving the pug a few minutes to sniff at the steadily rising breeze of the storm, he had a faint but definite trail and had taken off after his team. 

He's been running now for long enough to take him to the edge of the village, moving into the Clan Lands where you find the families that have lived in the city since its founding. The long empty Hatake compound is near here and so, consequently, are the old Uchiha lands. Pakkun leads him right up to the walls of the latter. They are still draped in sun bleached and tattered police tape. The pug bounds over the walls without so much as a flinch, clearly still following the scent of Kakashi's Genin. 

Kakashi pauses on the boundary, unease warring with the howling need to find his team. He's not a particularly superstitious man but he was here the night that everything happened and can perfectly recall the almost artful ways that blood had painted the walls of the compound, how it had run like rain through the cracks of the cobblestone streets, the neatly laid bodies of an entire family line.

In a nearly comedic twist of irony, the Sharingan that he stole from the Uchiha won't let Kakashi forget a single bloody detail of the tragedy that befell them. 

Pakkun is the one to pull him from his own head again, this time with a stressed bark of "Boss I found the pups but something's wrong!"

That's more than enough to propel Kakashi over the wall and into the ghost town. Pakkun is only a few streets beyond the wall, ears flat against his head with displeasure as he stands in front of an inconsequential building.

"Here Boss! There is a ward of some kind up so I don't really know what's goin on in there but the pups scents are real distressed and gettin' worse." 

Kakashi doesn't even bother thanking his Ninken and instead slams into the front door.

The momentum should have been enough to carry him well over the threshold but instead he's met with a barrier of some kind, unmoving even against the significant force of his rush. This must be the reason he still can't sense the kid's Chakras either. He's almost ready to hit the barrier with a Chidori and hope for the best when a barely audible shout comes from within.

"Sakura it's Sensei! Let him in!" 

Kakashi barely has time to process the meaning of the words, let alone the terror underlining them when the barrier shifts, flexes and suddenly he's tumbling through the door. He lands with a Kunai already in hand, ready to leap into action to defend his team. 

What greets him hits him like a punch in the gut.

They are in the living area of what was once clearly someone's house. The tatami floors are dusty and the screens along the walls, while thankfully blood splatter free, are faded. One of them has a crack running down its length as if something heavy was once thrown into it, like a body. His Genin are clustered in the center of the room among long unused couches like they had tumbled to a stop there and couldn't draw the energy to move further into the house.

Sakura stands in front of her teammates, pale and sweating. Her light green eyes are wide and her newly shorn pink hair is sticking messily to her face. Her hands are folded in a textbook perfect Rat symbol and as her chakra flows steadily Kakashi realizes that she is the one maintaining whatever Barrier Jutsu is surrounding them. Kakashi would take a moment to be impressed, he didn't even know Sakura could do any Barrier Jutsu, but his other students draw his attention immediately.

Naruto and Sasuke are not okay.

Sasuke is folded forward on the ground, arms wrapped around himself as breath jerks in and out of his chest. Tears rush down the Genin's cheeks and choked little gasps of pain fall past his lips. His sharingan is activated and spinning uselessly as if trying to see and counter an attack that isn't actually coming.  
He's having a panic attack. The scent of it is heavy in the room, acidic and alarming in a way that cries out severe distress to anyone with a sensitive enough nose, like Kakashi or, unfortunately, Naruto.

The blonde Genin is nearly frantic. His gaze is locked on his teammate as he crouches in front of him, hands wrapped tight around Sasuke's shoulders.  
The Jonin realizes with mounting dread that Naruto's eyes have gone scarlet and slitted and the Kyuubi's chakra is beginning to boil to the surface of his skin casting strange lurching shadows against the dusty walls. Kakashi has been blind to have never considered how the connection, the borderline dependency, between the last Uchiha and last Uzumaki would one day come around to bite them all in the ass.

"Sensei?" Sakura's voice trembles. 

It's only taken a moment for Kakashi to take in the scene but that's a moment too long. At this rate someone else is going to sense the Fox's rising chakra and everything is going to go to hell. Kakashi doesn't quite understand why his instincts are screaming to keep the rest of Konoha away from the three Genin right now but he isn't going to take the time to question it. Those same instincts have kept all four of them alive this long after all. 

"Sakura." He snarls, not bothering to adopt his usual carefree voice, "double down on that barrier now. Not so much as a hint of the Fox's chakra can leave this room."

Sakura pales further, staring at him with eyes rife with uncertainty and God Kakashi has really failed all of his students up till this point but he's failed Sakura worst of all. 

"Kakashi Sensei I don't think-" she starts but none of them have time for doubt right now because Sasuke's breaths are coming faster and faster and a low rolling growl is starting to pour out of Naruto's mouth as his knuckles whiten desperately in their clench on his counterpart’s shoulders. 

Kakashi doesn't have any right to put her in this position but he doesn't have another choice at the moment. Even the great Copy nin Kakashi can't hold a Barrier up and deal with two overpowered teens having meltdowns at the same time. 

He turns to her, desperation cracking through his voice even as he tries to maintain his calm, his authority, "Sakura there isn't another option. You have to, now." 

He wouldn't have blamed her for breaking under the pressure but instead her eyes harden, the uncertainty shoved away and replaced with jade-like determination.  
Kakashi's brain, always working a million miles an hour, wonders for a split second why rule-abiding, goody-two-shoes Sakura isn't demanding they call an Anbu patrol or alert the Hokage. The thought is shoved away as quickly as it arrives. It's just one more behavioral shift in the puzzle, not something that is lending itself to their survival right now. 

"Pakkun" Kakashi snaps his attention to the pug that darted into the room at his heels, "Help her."

"Roger." His ninken says and then leaps onto Sakura's shoulders.

He doesn't give his female student another look and instead moves purposefully forward, intending to scoop Sasuke into his arms.

He almost loses an arm for it.

Naruto moves so fast that without Obito's Sharingan already uncovered, Kakashi wouldn't have seen him coming. His bumbling, knuckleheaded, loser of a Genin darts toward him with an enraged snarl, slashing at his forearm with elongated talons coated in roiling orange chakra.

Acting purely on the instincts of a lifetime's worth of things trying to kill him, Kakashi leaps over the strike and wraps a gloved hand around the agitated jinchuriki's neck, bearing him to the ground with a slam.

"Naruto! It's me!" He snarls.

He doesn't know why he's riding on the idea that it being him will work to calm his student's protective rage.  
He isn't sure he even wants the burden of what it will mean if it does.

The blonds stops struggling against his grip.

He looks up at Kakashi with bewildered, wild eyes, muscles relaxing even though Kakashi still grips the back of his neck. 

"Like a pup going still in the jaws of its sire," Kakashi's traitorous brain helpfully supplies.

No time to examine that particular train of thought either. 

Since the Genin is no longer trying to maim him, Kakashi uses his grip on the blondes' scruff to tug him against his side as he drops to the ground. With his free arm he reaches for Sasuke's shaking form and pulls him all but into his lap. Kakashi isn't usually one for physical comfort but he doesn't know what else to do at this moment. The Uchiha doesn't even stiffen at the contact which is as worrying as the heartbreaking gasps that still strain from his lips. 

Kakashi has seen ninja break before, hundreds of them in fact. He's even been one himself on more than one occasion. However it never gets easier and the fact that this is his student, his Genin falling to pieces in his arms only makes it worse.

"Sasuke you're okay. You're safe. I'm here. Try and breathe with me." Kakashi orders. 

The rough edge of a canine growl is still audible in his voice. The part of him that is Inuzaka snaps and bares its teeth at the distress emanating from one of his own.  
Kakashi had never known his mother, but Sakumo always smiled remembering the protective streak that made her such a dangerous and loyal ninja. That instinct is one of the only things that she left Kakashi when she died and he wouldn't hasten to call it a gift. It certainly doesn't feel like one now as his words fall on deaf ears.  
Naruto squirms against his other side, red eyes still locked on his counterpart and the Kyuubi's presence bubbling beneath the surface, rough like sandpaper against Kakashi's own already frayed senses. The furious, twisting chakra is still growing and if Kakashi doesn't do something soon the Barrier Jutsu won't be enough to keep from alerting the rest of the Leaf. 

"Sasuke." Naruto says, voice teary and angry and afraid all at once and Kakashi needs to know what's happened to make his team this shattered.

Kindness doesn't always get results when you are a ninja and Kakashi is rapidly running out of options. He locks down the part of his soul that whines at doing harm to something he cares about and lets a flash of lightning Chakra build under his sternum and then presses it ruthlessly into Sasuke's body. The lightning isn't enough to incapacitate or even do damage but it will certainly hurt like a Kunai to the chest. The pain works and as Sasuke jolts in Kakashi's grasp with a shout and then settles again, his eyes actually focus on the Jonin's face for the first time since he arrived. 

"Kakashi Sensei?" the raven haired teen pants.

"Deep breaths." Kakashi says at the same time that Naruto cries out "Sasuke!" and reaches across Kakashi's chest to lock fingers with the other still-trembling Genin.

Kakashi is glad that Sasuke doesn't fight the affection because at the contact the Kyuubi's chakra seems to curl back into Naruto's form, the rage and destruction that pulses from it dimming until only Naruto's natural chakra is left.

Almost.

The Jinchuriki's eyes are still crimson. 

Kakashi is unsettled to say the least but he takes the win where he can. He can deal with concerning shifts of personality and eye color once he pauses and gathers his bearings for just a second.

Kakashi allows himself a moment of weakness to bury his head in Sasuke's hair and takes a long deep breath. The panicked adrenaline fades for the first time in nearly an hour and leaves bone deep exhaustion in its wake. It's the same exhaustion that's followed him for years now.

A quiet hitching breath comes from beyond them and Kakashi is reminded that Sakura is a part of this too. The pinkette is standing sentinel, straight backed and Rat sign as perfect as ever. Even so, trembles rush through her frame and quiet tears slip free as she glances worriedly back at her team.

"Sakura," Kakashi wrestles the growl down this time "it's okay now. You can drop it."

"You're sure? No one will come?" The young Kunoichi asks and Kakashi is struck again by the distrust radiating off her. 

"I'm sure." He answers carefully, feeling dangerously out of the loop when both Sakura and Naruto slump in relief.

Sasuke still seems to be mostly intent on matching his breathing to Kakashi's own, one pale and shaking palm pressed tightly against the rise and fall of his chest.  
Sakura lets the jutsu fizzle away with a rush of chakra and unsteadily makes her way over to the little pile of her teammates, Pakkun hopping down from her shoulders. Kakashi would have assumed that she would use this as an excuse to cuddle up to Sasuke but instead, the girl drops to Naruto's side, just a bit in front of Kakashi and buries her wet face in the Jonin's flak jacket.

He lets them just….lay on him for several minutes, one part aware that they are needing desperately to lean against something solid and trustworthy and two parts terrified that that is him apparently.

He never asked for a Genin team, let alone one that would come to depend on him like this.

He was going to let them all down.

Pakkun gives him a pointed look and then jogs out the front door. Hopefully to go keep watch, Kakashi thinks, shifting so his arm is more securely placed around Sasuke's shoulders. Eventually, all of the Genin seem to have calmed down enough and Kakashi can't stand not knowing for a moment longer. He shuffles the pile of teens off of his person and gives them all a pointed look. Everyone readjusts, but they're still close. 

Sasuke leans back against a dusty couch. His sharingan is deactivated and his breathing even but the expression on his face is still drained of the passion Kakashi has come to expect from him. Naruto, meanwhile, stands and begins pacing short tracks across the middle of the floor, hands fidgeting in the way that means he has too many emotions to put into words. Sakura pulls herself into a little ball, arms wrapped around her knees and gaze alternating between Sasuke and Naruto and the floor. 

Kakashi gives them several long seconds to say something, to start explaining what has brought them here. 

A lone lamp on the wall casts their shadows like giants beyond them. 

None of them speak.

The storm that has been building all afternoon is closer now, the wind beginning to rise outside in a long mournful howl and the first scattered drops of rain striking the roof above them.

Kakashi breaks before the storm does.

"What the hell happened?" he asks, trying to seem as calm and in control as a seasoned, uninvested Jonin should be. He's pretty sure he's failing.

The Genin are still silent but now Sakura and Naruto are looking at Sasuke, each with a pained almost guilty look on their face.

The Uchiha doesn't move. 

"That snake bastard…" Naruto starts at the same time that Sakura says "Sensei-".

They both immediately fall silent as Sasuke's quiet voice cuts across the room like a blade. 

"Did you know that the Uchiha Massacre was ordered by Konoha? That Itachi was following orders?" 

Thunder crashes outside, and Kakashi can't breathe.

"What?" He manages uselessly as if he didn't perfectly hear his young student the first time.

The real world slows as a thousand puzzle pieces Kakashi didn't even know he had suddenly click together in his mind. A picture is revealed that he doesn't want to see. 

It makes sense, Hound thinks. The Uchiha were a threat causing instability to the village in a time where unity was critical. Of course they had to be neutralized.  
But Kakashi can only think of the last time he saw Itachi, of the way the cobblestones outside looked wet with blood under the light of a cold moon, of the permanent shattered look in Sasuke's eyes. 

It's not the only thing revealed in the horrible picture becoming clear to Kakashi. If it's true that the Uchiha Massacre was sanctioned then what about the dozens of other seemingly random tragedies that have befallen the Leaf. 

What about the children lost to Orochimaru's experiments? What about the orders that guaranteed Naruto grew up alone and hated? What about the good members of ANBU that had disappeared into "special programs" to never be seen again? 

Other instances flash through his mind, faster than he can actually catalog but suddenly one is at the forefront of his mind, deadly and horrible in a way that makes Kakashi's breath freeze in his lungs.

What about the attack that killed Obito? 

There had been no reason that their particular operation would encounter so many Iwa-nin, let alone so many powerful ones. No reason that Minato Sensei should have been called away so suddenly from an active mission leaving the three of them outnumbered and alone. 

Kakashi has known for a while now, deep down, that the Leaf is corrupt, but suddenly he can't look away from it and it's blinding him.

Sasuke doesn't repeat his question. He just stares at Kakashi's face. His sharingan is back and slowly rotating as it tracks over every inch of his reaction. 

"He's waiting to see if I lie,'' the Jonin realizes with a numb feeling in his chest.

Sakura and Naruto are staring at him too and Kakashi thinks "They're all waiting to see if I knew that the village they've been training to devote themselves to, that I've devoted myself to, murders its own people."

He instinctively tries to drag the pain from his face, to hide it behind the mask of indifference that he always wears but the words have torn something open inside of him. It's a wound that never healed right but was only hidden away like a shameful secret again and again. His doubt in the Leaf village. A critical flaw in his Will of Fire. A question of whether he was really on the side of the good guys at all. 

"I didn't know." He says woodenly and it feels woefully inadequate.

But for his Genin it's somehow enough because all three droop in relief. Sasuke most of all. 

"We didn't think you did Sensei. You wouldn't do that." Naruto looks so earnestly at him, eyes still an unsettling red.

Of course it would be Naruto who cut right through to the heart of Kakashi's insecurity.

He can't suppress the instinctual flinch and snap of "Don't think so highly of me." 

Because the thing is, he would do that. If Hound was ordered, he would keep any secret. He had kept Naruto's parentage and status as a Jinchuriki from him for years after all. Had left Sasuke by himself even though he once would have called Itachi and Shisui friends. Kakashi's nindo has always been that abandoning those who are precious to you makes you worse than trash. It's a part of Obito that he holds even closer to him than his dead friend's eye. But the loophole is, if you don't have anyone precious to you at all, then there is nothing you can't betray, no code that can't be broken. 

He's been able to follow orders by that loophole for years. 

But now, looking from Sakura to Sasuke to Naruto, Kakashi is suddenly hit with the fact that the Genin have become...central to him in a way that he hasn't let anyone be since Minato and Kushina. 

"Orochimaru told me the truth about the massacre." Sasuke explains, still watching Kakashi, "he also told Naruto that people were so awful to him as a kid because he's the vessel for the Kyuubi and they were ordered to stay away. And that no one-" the Uchiha pauses here, choking on the sharp edges of his words for a moment before continuing "that no one was there for me after the massacre because they were also told not to be. That by making sure we'd both be broken and alone we would be more convenient tools for the Hokage to wield in the future." 

It's so fucking familiar that Kakashi nearly vomits. 

The pattern is there, clear as day. 

How many other brilliant, genius level young ninja were isolated and traumatized as some kind of political tactic to make them more compliant?  
How many other Kakashi's were out there? 

Orochimaru telling them had been a good move, that same distant logical part of him thinks. The fastest way to make Sasuke vulnerable was to separate him from the village and the fastest way to do that was to let him know that Konoha is what destroyed his family. And hell, Kakashi thinks wryly studying Naruto's barely contained distress, if you can bag a Jinchuriki in the same breath why not. 

Sakura, unaware of the war raging in Kakashi's mind, asks the room at large "What do we do now?"

Kakashi has no idea. No next step.

His plan had always been to die for the village. If the village is something that doesn't deserve to be died for, which it isn't if what Sasuke is saying is true, then Kakashi is untethered.

"We leave. Obviously." Naruto growls, still prowling back and forth across the room like, well, a caged fox. 

Kakashi stares at him. That is...not what the Jonin expected, least of all from the boy who toted the dream of being Hokage someday like it was the most important thing in his life. 

"Leave?" Sasuke now, appearing as incredulous as Kakashi feels but not quite managing to tamp down the hopeful edge to his words at the same time.

"Yeah!" Naruto spins to face the rest of them and raises a determined fist. It's such a classic Naruto pose that some possibly hysterical part of Kakashi nearly laughs.  
"The village is shit. You heard what Orochimaru told us! They killed Sasuke's whole family and - and they left me to grow up all alone! Just because I've got the Kyuubi in me!" There are angry tears in the boy's eyes which he wipes away "It's all kinds of messed up!" 

Kakashi is trying to find a way to explain to Naruto how much it won't work for the last Uchiha and a goddamed Jinchuriki to defect from their Village when Sakura beats him to it.

"Don't be such an Idiot Naruto-" she starts and then stops, hands clamping over her mouth as she stares at her blonde teammate in horror.

"Sakura?" Naruto asks, looking worried.

"I'm...I'm a part of all of this." Sakura manages to whisper after a moment, voice trembling. "How alone you and Sasuke have been. I helped do that."

"Sakura no-" Naruto starts but Sasuke cuts him off again, voice more tired than cold for once, " Don't lie to her to be nice. She's been just like the rest of them."

Sakura flinches at his words but doesn't fold in on herself as Kakashi expects. 

Naruto whirls, "Hey Teme don't-"

The young Kunochi is on her feet before Naruto can continue defending her. 

"He's right Naruto. I've treated both of you exactly how the village wanted me to at every turn." Her hands are shaking again but she doesn't stop "I treated you like a stupid no-good trouble maker Naruto. I even laughed when the other kids called you a monster!" Naruto looks down at this, even after a lifetime of torment, unable to hide the way that the words hurt him. 

Sakura turns to Sasuke next "and Sasuke…. I've been no better to you. I always said I was in love with you but I've actually just been treating you like some prize to be won. You're a person, a Ninja just like me but me and everyone else just treats you like a piece of meat." 

She's crying now, big ugly tears rolling down her cheeks but neither Sasuke nor Naruto moves to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry." the pinkette says through the tears and then with that same flash of strength in her eyes she bends forward at the waist in a low bow.  
"I know I swore to get stronger by your sides already but please, let me correct the wrongs I've made and protect you both. I will be stronger and better and I'll make it up to you!"

Naruto is sputtering somewhat at the idea of being protected and Sasuke looks unsure but there is no way to doubt the sincerity in Sakura's words.

Sasuke narrows his eyes at his female teammate, leaning forward to ask "So no more weird fangirl bullshit?"

"No." Sakura says, sounding more certain that apologetic 

Kakashi doesn't quite believe that so many years of puppy love could simply be dropped like that on Sakura's part but something about the set of the girl's shoulders makes doubting her seem like a sucker's bet.

Sasuke is still looking at Sakura like a particularly strange and possibly venomous snake in his path but he nods once and turns towards his blond counterpart.

"Dobe, that good enough for you?"

Kakashi would almost like to ask why it's okay when Sasuke degrades Naruto's intelligence but not anyone else but he thinks he already knows the answer and he's not sure if it's one his Genin are aware of themselves yet.

"Yeah but…" Naruto furrows his brows, lips turning down into a confused frown "Sakura why would you leave with us? You have a family and friends!"  
Sakura, straightening from her bow, curls her lip slightly at the comment.

"I love my parents but they don't understand me, they never have. My mom still asks me when I'll quit the whole ninja thing to settle down. She'll probably cry when she sees my hair." Sakura takes a shorn pink lock and twirls it between her fingers before looking back up. "You all are my team. If you're leaving the village, insane idea or not, I'm coming with you."

She says it like it's that simple and both Naruto and Sasuke nod along as if it is. Kakashi has lost control of the thread somewhere along the way and he doesn't know if he wants it back. 

Silence reigns for a minute and Kakashi is trying to think of something to say, trying to even get a grasp on what he feels about the whole thing.  
Leave Konoha? It feels completely impossible. Its rules and standards have been the measure by which he judges himself as a ninja and man for 26 years. His Genin, with all the flexibility of teenagers, have already seemed to accept that this is the next step but he knows they don't understand what defecting would really mean.  
If Team Seven left they would be hunted down like dogs, not only by The Leaf Village but by the rest of the elemental nations and anyone who may have interest in a Jinchuriki or the last Sane Uchiha or even a bone to pick with Copy Nin Kakashi. 

It's a terrible fucking idea and they'd be dead in a week. But as he opens his mouth to tell his team this Naruto once again turns to him and throws him completely off kilter.

"Kakashi Sensei, you won't tell on us will you?"

That...almost hurts worse than the terrifying trust they've placed in him until now.

"You think I'm going to report you." says Kakashi and his voice has returned to the cold dead tones of Hound without his permission. 

All three sets of eyes are on him again, Naruto worried and confused, Sasuke defiant but resigned all at once and Sakura, a surprise again, glaring with something sharp and fiercely protective. 

They've truly all dedicated themselves to this idea, Kakashi realizes. Their ties to the Leaf snapped like twigs in a hurricane the moment Orochimaru revealed the village's crimes. 

"I don't know…" Naruto manages, Kakashi's hostile tone obviously throwing him off.

Sasuke gently moves a hand to his belt pouch, as if Kakashi won't see the movement as the preparation for conflict it is and Sakura's stare sharpens even further. They're both smart enough to understand that Kakashi is more skilled than them on every conceivable level, but they've also apparently both decided to go down fighting rather than let Kakashi sell them out. They are waiting to give it their all to stop him if he decides to betray them like everything else they've grown to trust has in the past so many hours. 

The Jonin nearly grits his teeth at the deluge of contradictory emotions that pulse through him at the display.

His stupid, brave, impossible Genin.

And that's the key isn't it. They really are his. 

When exactly that happened, he couldn't tell you. Maybe it was Zabuza and Wave. Maybe it was one of the dozens of menial D-ranks, or early morning training sessions.

Or maybe they've been his from the moment they passed his bell test with all the subtleness of a tsunami. 

When exactly it happened doesn't matter because Kakashi no longer exists as he is now outside of them.

His life went from predictable, safe, emptiness to a chaotic tumble of three thirteen year old kids who refused to let him drift through life like a corpse waiting for the grave to finally find him. If Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke leave on their own they'll be hunted down and executed as deserters, or worse taken prisoners by a foreign power and Kakashi isn't sure that he could survive that at all. One more loss would be enough to shatter him in a way that he can't cobble back together with false smiles and the memories of the dead. 

He's been left with only one option and he finds, to his surprise, that he's okay with that.

"I'm not going to sell you all out." He informs slowly. This is important and he wants all three of his ridiculous Genin to hear it with the weight that he says it. 

"It's like you said Sakura. We're a team. I'm coming with you all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the madness y'all.  
> This fic has been living in my head for about a year now and I finally decided to bite the bullet and get it down on paper.  
> Updates every Friday which I hope to be able to stick to considering I have about 7 chapters completely written at the moment.  
> Come chat with me on Tumblr at yesiamanerd or drop a comment here!  
> Hope you enjoy it!


	2. Way Down We Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause they'll run you down till you fall, way down we go.  
> \- Way Down We Go, KALEO
> 
> edited by loverinstinct

After the revelations of the evening Kakashi sends Team 7 home without fanfare. Despite their collective agitation it doesn’t take too much of a push to get them to rest. The Genin are all drained to the point of incoherence after being raked over emotional coals for the past several days, after all. 

They agree to meet before noon the next day at the Hatake compound for discussing strategy. If Kakashi opening his long boarded Clan Lands to the resolute Genin isn’t a metaphor for things to come, then he doesn’t know what is.

It is the logical choice in the long run, of course. The Hatake wards still stand strong and considering that Team Seven is actively in the process of planning treason against the Leaf, any barrier that keeps them away from the listening ears of ANBU or other even more insidious parties is welcome. Plus it’s a convenient excuse to say they need the privacy to prepare Sakura and Naruto for the final round of the Chunin exam. Kakashi still isn’t sure if he’s ready to reopen what was once his home and is now just another tomb for painful memories. 

Unsurprisingly, as the sun begins to rise above the towering trees, Sakura is the first to arrive at the simple but strong front gates of his old home.

More surprising is that Kakashi is actually there to see her early arrival.

It would be impressive that he is there before his Genin if he had actually managed to sleep at all. Instead, his night had consisted of staring at the ceiling, thoughts an endless roar of anxiety and preparations. 

He had given his word to his Genin to desert the village.

He still really doesn’t actually know how he feels about that. 

Sakura raises one pale eyebrow at him as she comes to a stop in front of where Kakashi is sprawled lazily, relaxing with his back propped against the sun warmed wall. In all honesty, Kakashi doesn’t actually feel that warm. The jagged ache of being back on his clan lands is enough to freeze him from the inside, but Sakura doesn’t need to know that. The Genin looks...different. Her bright red dress and ninja leggings are gone and standard shinobi workout wear has replaced them. Instead of tied fashionably up in her hair, Sakura has her headband hung from her weapons belt, almost like an afterthought. 

She drops down next to him without saying anything.

Student and Sensei sit in silence for many long minutes, watching the sunrise over Konoha. 

Kakashi is tense. He isn’t really sure what to expect of the young Kunoichi and knows that is in no small part due to the fact that until yesterday, he really hadn’t paid as much attention as he should to the girl. A dozen excuses as to why could be offered, not the least among them is that Sakura has always painfully reminded him of another sweet young kunoichi who loved too big for her body. 

The major difference as Kakashi always saw it is that Sakura is still here breathing and Rin had taken her last gulp of air with Kakashi’s fist through her ribcage.

But now, looking over at Sakura in a simple pair of black ninja pants, her pink hair pulled messily back from her face and jade eyes distant and considering, Kakashi is, for a moment, reminded of a different lost teammate. It's something about the whip-like intelligence spinning behind Sakura’s gaze, the wry curve to her lips, the comfort with which she exists in Kakashi’s space.

For a moment, she reminds him of Obito. 

The Jonin is pulled from his disconcerting thoughts as the young woman finally speaks. 

"Sensei, do you remember months ago when you asked us why we wanted to be a ninja?”

Kakashi nods, of course he does. Her answer had been one of the things that distanced him with her from the very start of their messy little team. Signing on for a life of violence and loss to impress someone you are infatuated with is naivety at best, downright suicidal ignorance at worst. 

Sakura continues, glancing sideways at Kakashi and twisting her hands with something like embarrassment or perhaps nerves, “I told you that I wanted to get closer to Sasuke but... that's not really it.” 

Kakashi perks up. This feels important. 

“For a while, I thought that being in love with him was my reason for becoming a ninja, but the thing is, he wasn’t why I started at the academy. I didn't even know him then, and I think I forgot that or…”

She pauses, fighting her way through something to explain this to him. 

“Maybe it was safer to pretend that being in love with him was why I want so badly to succeed.”

Kakashi nods, feeling out of his depth in a way he hasn’t in a while.

The pinkette stares out over the path that leads down and away towards the Leaf Village proper. A determined, hard look twists her features and after thinking for a few moments longer, she says in a rush, "I started all this because I wanted to be recognized, to be _seen_ by everyone. Not as Billboard Brow or a nice, shy little girl or even as the smart kid in class. I wanted to be seen as something dangerous and powerful. Something that makes people stand up and pay attention. Something that people would think twice about before messing with.”

Her hands are clenched and she turns to look beseechingly at Kakashi.

"There's this voice in me just screaming all the time. It's so angry and honestly, I'm tired of pretending it's not there. I'm tired of pretending to be only gentle and good. I want to be strong, Kakashi Sensei. I want to be a threat.” 

The rising morning light catches her eyes and for a moment Kakashi catches a glimpse of something in the girl, untempered and rough but there. Something that, given the right guidance, the right _push_ , could be dangerous. 

She continues “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry for not taking things seriously until now. Please give me another chance, Sensei. I won’t let you or the boys down again.”

Kakashi rubs a hand on the back of his neck and then sighs. Sakura must misinterpret the noise as annoyance because the sharp confidence radiating from her falters as her eyes widen. She opens her mouth as though to try and further beg forgiveness for something that isn’t really her fault. 

Kakashi claps a hand over her mouth to stop the onslaught. It is far too early and he is far too emotionally raw to try and explain to his 13-year-old student that his failings as a teacher aren’t her fault.

He opens his mouth. Closes it. Thinks about what Obito would have wanted to hear as an underestimated and overlooked young ninja. 

He gives her a genuine smile from behind the mask, "Sakura, thank you for telling me." He lets the smile go a little feral at the edges, the look in his eyes a little deadly. "You've got a lot of ground to cover if you want to catch up, let's get started why don't we?"

Sakura gulps at his expression but the spark of determination doesn't fade from her eyes and oh, she is going to _hate him_ before long, Kakashi thinks but she will get stronger.

He's going to make her a threat.

~

By the time Sasuke and Naruto arrive at the Hatake compound a few hours later Sakura is drenched with sweat and has completely let go of the innocent teenage girl act. She tried to maintain it for a while, out of habit or decorum Kakashi isn't sure, but after the 4th time he had tossed her into the Koi pond like a naughty puppy, all pretenses had dropped. Now she's swearing at Kakashi as colorfully and creatively as Genma with a particularly nasty hangover as she clambers to her feet on the lawn again. She's either unaware that the rest of her team has arrived or, more likely considering her keen perception, she's too pissed off at him to care.

"Sakura" he calls to her as Sasuke and Naruto stare at their fuming teammate like she's some cross between a cryptid and a rigged paper bomb, "go run a cool down lap and then rinse off and meet us in the main house's breezeway." 

"Fuck you and your smug-ass mask-wearing bitch face." Sakura snarls at him, wringing pond water out of her hair with grass and mud stained fingers. 

"Sakura." He admonishes, even though he can't keep the grin out of his voice entirely.

"Yes _Sensei_." She simpers at him in response, so sharply false in the sweetness with which she says it that Kakashi barks out a laugh.

Sakura is a _bitch_ when she's pushed and not holding back. Kakashi loves it. 

As she jogs away to do a lap of the grounds, the Jonin turns to look over his other two students. 

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke look like they've gotten much sleep, both their faces somewhat pale and hair tousled. Well, Kakashi amends, Sasuke is about as pale as normal but the bags under his eyes speak volumes. Interestingly, he also notices that both boys have moved their Hitaiate's to less obvious locations. Naruto's is wrapped around his wrist and Sasuke has tied his backwards around his neck. 

Kakashi suppresses a sigh. At least they are still wearing it at all, but the four of them are going to need to have a talk about subtlety. 

"Yo kiddos." He says with a short salute, "Welcome to the Hatake lands. The Scent Wards give you any trouble?"

They shouldn't have, unlike the Chakra based wards that most Clan Lands utilize, the Hatake had always used Wards that responded to a person's unique scent instead. Someone uninformed may assume they are easier to bypass, but any tracker worth the nose on their face would know that every individual has a perfectly unique scent, not unlike a unique Chakra signature. Unlike Chakra though, scent offered a more nuanced measure of a person and was safer to boot. 

The Hatake Scent Wards would not only exclusively let in beings that had been keyed into their matrix, as Kakashi had done for the kids sometime before the sun rose, but they would also alert if those accepted residents passed its boundaries giving off particular levels of distress or pain. Furthermore, scent wards never reacted badly to ninjas with low or corrupted chakra. Kakashi knew at least half a dozen ninja in the Hidden Leaf alone who had returned home from dangerous missions to nearly be killed by their own security being unable to read their Chakra signatures. The Hatake Wards would never have that problem.

It all goes to say that the Wards that have protected the edges of the Hatake's lands are one of the major reasons that they are using the space to prepare. 

Sasuke shrugs at the question but sends a speaking look Naruto's way.

The blonde shuffles his feet and looking guilty says "Er well, Sensei they did let me in.."

"Obviously." Mumbles Sasuke.

Naruto glares at him before continuing "but uh they didn't really like it?"

"The wards didn't like it." Repeats Kakashi with a raised brow.

"Yeah." Naruto offers back, wrinkling his nose "like I had to kinda push through and they felt really, uh unsure about it?" 

Kakashi thinks for a moment and then walks forward until he's only an arm's length in front of the Genin. 

"Don't be weird about this." 

"Weird about wha-" Naruto starts to say only to cut off on a yelp as Kakashi bends forward to press his nose against the juncture where the Genin's neck meets his shoulder.

The Jonin ignores Naruto's flustered yelling and focuses on what his nose is telling him. Naruto's scent is as familiar as ever, a strange mixture of sweat, salt and sunshine but under it all is a new, rising scent that Kakashi hasn't noticed until now.

Fox.

He pulls back and meets the Genin's baffled gaze. 

Naruto's eyes are still scarlet.

"Sensei what the hell?!" 

Kakashi just hums in response, burying his unease as he takes a step back.

"Let's talk in the house. I brought snacks." He offers instead of an explanation and begins making his way to the sprawling building that had once been his home.

~ 

Unlike the Uchiha, who had structured their lands like a small autonomous village, the Hatake residences consisted of two sprawling buildings centered around a large grassy quad dotted with sakura trees and Koi ponds. Before Kakashi's time, before even his father's time truthfully, the Hatake had been a larger clan. While never as numerous as the Uchiha or even the Aburame, they had still counted nearly a dozen families. None of those dozen had been civilians either. 

Kakashi's knowledge of his only lineage and history is shoddy at best but he knows that his clan was once warriors through and through. They had been some of the most revered and feared frontline soldiers, trackers, and medics in all of Konoha. The name Hatake had carried the threat of dozens of deadly shinobi behind it. But the first and second shinobi wars had decimated their numbers and by the time that Kakashi had been born, Sakumo and his wife had been the last Hatake left.  
Now Kakashi carries the weight of his name alone. Their lands remain though, wild at the edges with the passage of time but still strong and built to provide for the needs of dangerous people. 

The dwellings left by Kakashi's family reflect their history well.

The first of the structures is entirely residential. It houses several baths, around 10 sleeping areas, internal courtyards and gardens and a massive kitchen. Of course, after so much time left empty the rooms are dusty, the bathrooms dingy and the gardens overgrown, but it's still entirely usable. Certainly useful for keeping three Genin close by at the very least.

The other side of the compound is an even greater boon.

It had existed to provide for the more violent side of its residence life. It contained a dojo, armory, small infirmary and a library as well as several other specialized chambers that were once used to make the Hatake some of the most dangerous ninjas in all the elemental nations. Kakashi remembers learning to throw a Kunai in one of the ranges built there. 

When he was young, his lands had made him proud if not a little mournful at the state of his clan. Now though, as he and the kids pass a bench where he used to sit with his father eating peaches together in the summer, Kakashi just hurts in that sharp aching way that he feels every time he sees his own reflection. 

He hurries past the bench and is glad for his mask and how it allows him to hide the scowl from his Genin.

He and the kids settle in the northern breezeway. Here, the oppressive heat of the late summer afternoon is softened by shade and the gentle wind that moves through the space. The polished wooden floors are old but smooth and cool and Kakashi can still see the faded claw marks of past generations of Ninken.  
Kakashi digs into the bag of junk he bought from one of the local grocers at an unreasonably early hour. He snags himself some of the spicy rice cakes that he likes before dumping the rest where the Genin can take their pick. 

With a bright grin Naruto grabs some sugary monstrosity or other and then tosses a pack of dark matcha chocolate to Sasuke who grunts appreciatively. 

"Leave the apple crisps for Sakura, she likes them." he says, shoving a handful of candies shaped like Kunai in his mouth. 

Kakashi hums, taking note of the fact that Naruto somehow knows all his team's favorite snacks off the top of his head.

"Let's wait till Sakura gets back before we get started." He tells the boys.

They don't seem too bothered by the lull as they sit back in the shade. 

“They’re being so calm considering how dead we’ll be the moment Konaha realizes what we’re doing” muses Kakashi as Naruto and Sasuke quietly bicker over something or other. Although in their defense, he’s feeling surprisingly chill about the whole thing too.

Kakashi wonders if the panic will set in at some point.

Sakura arrives before long, hair damp and expression less murderous.

He gives her a bright smile from behind the mask. “Hello Sakura! You seem refreshed.” 

“Fuck you Sensei.” She calmly replies before inserting herself next to Naruto and grabbing the bag of Apple crisps he somewhat nervously holds out like a tribute. 

Kakashi gives them a few more moments to get settled before cheerily offering, “Right then, treason!”

Sakura and Naruto let out surprised laughs at his candor and even Sasuke manages a wan smile. Kakashi lets his lips tug up too, no reason to tiptoe around the matter, and besides, it's good to see some mirth from the kids.

His smile drops and he looks over the three Genin closely, “This is still something you all want to do? You understand what leaving like this would mean, correct?”

The kids are quiet for several long moments. Naruto breaks the silence first, as he often does.

“Sensei… I don’t really know about Sakura, but Sasuke and me have nothin’ left in the village. I mean, I’ve got Iruka Sensei but he’s got the school and all those kids and I don’t wanna be buggin’ him all the time and anyway all the villagers really still hate me even though they are better at pretendin’ not to and I thought I wanted to be Hokage and that I loved the Leaf but really I just wanted them to not want me dead so much and-” 

Sasuke cuts off the increasingly frantic ramble with a tap of his fist against Naruto’s hunched shoulder. “Breath, Dobe.”

Naruto does, sucking in a huge gulp of air and holding it in with cartoonishly ballooned cheeks. He releases it after a few beats and it does seem to have calmed him some. The blonde Genin thinks for a few moments before continuing at a more subdued rate.

“I just...I was thinkin' about it all night and I want to have a _home_ Sensei. I want somewhere I can feel safe and...ya know not hated and stuff, and I wanna be able to fight for it and protect it. But I don’t think home can ever be the village for me now. It just wouldn’t feel right.”

If Minato and Kushina were still alive they would burn the Leaf to the ground for what it has done to their son, he muses sadly.

“Okay Naruto.” He says. He considers the urge to reach out and pat the boy's knee but Sakura beats him to it, leaning to knock shoulders with the dejected Jinchuriki.

He turns to her, eyes wide with shock at the gesture. That may have been the first time that Sakura willingly initiated contact with her blonde teammate outside of smacking him over the head. She returns his stare with a slightly awkward but genuine smile.

The flash of jealousy that darts across Sasuke’s face at the exchange is lightning quick but just as dangerous and Oh, thinks Kakashi, that is going to be a thing isn’t it.

Sasuke and Naruto’s attachment to each other was already nearing an unhealthy dependency and that was before all their ties to the village had been severed.  
He’s going to have to do something about that probably.

Gods.

Just one more thing to worry about.

A little bit desperate to not spend any more time at this moment trying to figure out how he’s going to keep his Genin from attempting to kill each other over misguided jealousy, Kakashi turns to Sakura and says “I know we already talked this morning Sakura but you’re sure too? You could stay in the village with your family and still become strong.”

She considers his words for a moment before replying, “Sensei, you don’t really know what it’s like being a Kunoichi do you?”

Kakashi blinks in surprise. That is really not what he had expected to hear.

“I’ve worked with many talented female ninjas-” he starts to offer, unsure why he feels guilty even saying it, but Sakura cuts him off. 

“No. You don’t really _know_ Sensei, or you two either for that matter.” she continues half turning towards the boys. 

Naruto shrugs and Sasuke narrows his eyes but neither tries to dispute her. 

Sakura purses her lips before asking the three of them, “Do you know what I was given a few weeks after becoming an official member of Team Seven?” 

Naruto dutifully shakes his head. Sakura turns her sharp jade gaze to Kakashi and he is once again hit with the sense of something dangerous residing within the 13-year-old girl, something furious. 

“I have no idea Sakura.” He says quietly.

Without further prompting, she reaches into her weapons pouch and withdraws a folded piece of paper. She passes it to Kakashi saying, “I know that Ino and Hinata got one too.”

He unfolds it and is immediately greeted with elegantly curled font and soft purple flower detailings. The creases on the paper are well worn, suggesting it's been unfolded and refolded many times over.

The title of what he can now see is an information packet reads “Knowing Your Next Steps As A Kunoichi; Medical, Support or Seduction? Which path is right for you?”  
Kakashi’s fingers tighten on the paper subconsciously. The text in the dossier describes several different commonplace jobs for Kunoichi. The information manages to never actually insinuate that the fields it lays out are the _only_ options for women becoming ninjas but the subtext is fairly clear. 

“Who gave you this?” He manages after getting through about half of the paper.

Sakura shrugs, “A Kunoichi I didn’t know. I’m pretty sure she’s a Chuunin with the Border Support group though. She told me there were information breakouts I could attend if I was interested and they would even pair me with mentors if need be.”

Kakashi digests this information, eyes tracing over the artistic curl that’s been added to the ‘K’ of Kunoichi on the pamphlet and the way that the ‘O’ is a stylized ninja star. A lot of time and effort went into the existence of this paper.

He passes the page to a confused looking Naruto and Sasuke and then laces his fingers in front of his mouth.

He’s always known that there were issues in the Ninja world and the Leaf specifically regarding how women were treated in the field, but he’d assumed the exceptions made the rule. Tsunade, Kurenai, Anko, and Yugoa were all impressively effective and respected ninjas. Hell Kushina had been probably the most powerful and terrifying person he had ever trained under. However, the pale purple paper being slowly crushed in Naruto’s disbelieving hands offers a side of things that Kakashi has never cared to look too closely at. How many perfectly talented and driven young women had he known that seemed to...settle for a desk job or medical position or something away from the violent heart of what they did. 

Thinking about it now, he can even remember the day that Rin had met up with the team to announce that she was going to start learning Medical Ninjutsu. She’d had an almost sad tilt to her mouth as she quietly explained her choice and back then Kakashi had brushed it immediately off as unimportant, but now he can’t help but wonder if she’d received one of these pamphlets as well.

Surprisingly, it’s Sasuke’s voice that breaks him out of his thoughts. 

“Fuck this.” The raven offers, glaring down at the paper held between Naruto and him like it's offended him personally, "you may be annoying but this is bullshit." 

Sakura shrugs again but that fire still seethes in her carefully calm gaze.

“Do you see now?” she asks bitterly, “Even if I push the boundaries like Kurenai Sensei or Anko san, this village will always expect me to be less because I’m a girl. I don’t want to be a healer, or someone supporting my team from the backline or a seductress. I don’t want to be _less_. I want to be _strong_.” 

She glares at Kakashi, a dare to contradict her held in the line of her mouth like a Kunai is held in a fist. 

He simply nods at her. He doesn’t need to say anything he hopes. The bruises darkening on her skin are marks of the promise he's already made to himself and her. He’ll push her until she breaks, patch her back up and then expect her to go further. Kakashi is going to make her strong, make all of his Genin strong, for Obito, and Rin and a smaller, less broken version of himself that never got the chance. 

She nods back at him and then turns to look at her teammates. The quiet uncertainty that still clings to her like cobwebs is in her eyes again as she waits for Naruto and Sasuke to say something.

Naruto’s looking at Sakura like he might start crying but Sasuke’s face is a visage of dry anger. The Uchiha takes the flyer, crumples it up in his fist and then with a sneer lets his Chakra nature wash through him. The page is ablaze in less than a breath. Sakura’s eyes widen nearly comically as she watches the pastel purple paper that had tried to dictate her life blacken and crumble in Sasuke’s fist.

When the flames finally die Sasuke holds his closed hand out to Sakura, the toxic words reduced to nothing but ash inside his clenched fingers. 

She stares.

“Stronger with us.” he says, fist still smoking slightly in the space between them.

“Yeah!” cheers Naruto lifting his own hand to Sasuke’s and then turning to grin encouragingly at the final member of Team Seven. 

Sakura’s eyes begin to fill with tears but she ignores it, reaching across the worn floors of Kakashi’s home to set her clenched fist against her teammates. 

“Together.” She agrees, voice wobbly and full of gratitude. 

Kakashi looks at them there, the quiet promise still hanging in the air between the three of them, no less powerful for its simplicity. If they live through this, he thinks, he’s fairly certain that he’ll remember this moment perfectly for many years to come and the Sharingan has nothing to do with it.

They'll get stronger, not with the village at their backs, but with each other. 

Sasuke catches his eye and firmly says, “You don’t need to ask me too, Sensei. I was always going to leave after what the Snake said, whether you all were coming or not.” 

“As if we’d have let you go alone.” crows Naruto dropping his fist out of the circle to loop his arm around Sasuke’s neck instead. 

The raven flushes slightly at the gesture and then growls attempting to shove the other boy off him without much success. 

Intervening before things can further devolve into squabbling, Kakashi catches Sasuke's attention again, "We're going to have to get that curse mark off you Sasuke."

The Uchiha nods immediately, "Yes please. I don't want or need Orochimaru's help to get stronger. I'm going to find Itachi and then make the Leaf pay for what they did to my family by myself." The fire that Sasuke has been missing from his eyes since the forest of death is back in full force. 

Actually, Kakashi thinks, it's even brighter than before.

"Not by yourself." Interjects Sakura, tone a bit nervous and head dipped slightly as though she's worried she'll be reprimanded.

"What?" returns Sasuke.

"You aren't going after Itachi and the Leaf by yourself." She says, voice stronger. She clenches her fist and taps it to her chest, a nonverbal reminder of the promise they had made only moments ago.

"Stronger with us, remember?" 

Sasuke stares for a moment before his own hand curls back into a fist, perhaps even unconsciously.

"Together." He mirrors her words back to her and then nods, the smallest of smiles tugging up the corner of his lips. 

Sakura smiles back brightly and maybe Kakashi won't have to worry about the Uchiha stabbing the pinkette in her sleep after all. 

Kakashi claps his hands together to get the Genin's attention before announcing “Well then, if you are all certain then we have important things to discuss, questions to answer, and plans to lay.”

The kids sit back in their respective spaces, Naruto and Sakura both grabbing more snacks as they do so. 

“Shoot, Sensei.” murmurs Naruto, mouth already stuffed full of ramen flavored potato chips.

Kakashi is distantly glad the boy likes them, he’d picked them out with him in mind.

"To the first and most pressing order of business then," he says aloud “Naruto, how are you….feeling?”

It’s a terrible way to phrase the question and he knows it but he doesn’t really know how else to broach the subject of the red eyes and the fox smell without blatantly asking if the nine-tails is escaping its bonds. Sasuke and Sakura both give him odd looks but Naruto freezes with a handful of chips halfway to his mouth.

“Uhhh totally fine Kakashi Sensei,” he offers, the guilty shift of his red eyes to the left giving the lie away for what it is immediately, “why are you asking?”

An expert in subtlety the boy is not.

Sasuke catches the lie too because he turns narrowed eyes towards Naruto.

"Well Naruto," Kakashi says, deciding that in this instance, straightforwardness is the better part of valor, "your eyes are red and the scent wards almost didn't let you in because you smell like the Nine-Tails."

Naruto flinches and looks towards the floor like it will hide the redness of his eyes.

"Dobe," Sasuke growls, "you told me your eyes weren't anything to be worried about."

"No, I said they were nothin' for _you_ to be worried about." The Jinchuriki says petulantly.

"Naruto-" starts Sasuke, anger growing in his voice. Kakashi cuts him off. 

"Naruto, tell me what's going on with the fox. Now." He slips into the serious, commanding tone that the kids have only heard a half dozen times since they've been his students and it's as effective as a cracked whip for the way they sit up in attention. 

"I don't know Kakashi Sensei." Naruto mumbles "I've been able to hear this...voice for the past couple days in my head. It's rumbly and kinda pissed off and I think it might be the fox. Also I feel a lot more, uh, awake? I couldn't really sleep last night because all the little sounds outside were so loud and my apartment smelled so bad. And you've seen the red eyes so...yeah."

 _Shit_ thinks Kakashi.

"That's...probably not good right?" Asks Sakura looking between him and Naruto.

"No, not good," agrees Kakashi and he's going to have to figure out how to examine and possibly repair Naruto's damn seal on top of the already monumental task of removing Sasuke's curse mark and also making sure Sakura catches up enough with the boys so that she won't slow them down when they finally run.

God Kakashi is already _tired_.

One more complication might send him to an early grave, the Jonin thinks.

He really shouldn't have tempted the universe with such a thought because only moments later, Naruto sits up slightly, drops his chips on the ground, opens his mouth and says in a deep, rumbling growl, 

"You are completely out of your depth aren't you, human."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright time to get into the nitty-gritty of why one cannot simply abandon a ninja village with a Jinchuriki and two other thirteen-year-olds.  
> I know I may be leaning a bit heavily into the fanon about the experience of Kunoichi in the Leaf but I've just always found it frustrating and offputting that a majority of female ninjas in Naruto seemed to go into the medical field or other less directly violent types of combat. Medics are kick-ass, don't get me wrong, but I wanna kinda push back on the possible sexism of that and besides, Sakura deserves to get her hands a little dirty I think. >;)  
> Sorry (not sorry) for the cliffhanger! Next Friday you can expect more Team 7 planning, more stressed single-father Kakashi, and perhaps....a little more Fox.  
> Enjoy and feel free to drop a comment here or come hang out with me on Tumblr at Yesiamanerd! <3


	3. Details With The Devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the details with the devil so now the world can never get me on my level.  
> \- My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Fall Out Boy 
> 
> edited by loverinstinct (who I adore and appreciate with all my heart)

Kakashi freezes, every single instinct in his body screaming danger.

The voice emerging from Naruto's mouth is rough and warm, like sun warmed obsidian. The boy's red eyes seem...brighter and as he takes in Kakashi's frightened expression a feral grin curls across his face, teeth sharp.

This is not Naruto speaking. 

"Sasuke, Sakura _leave_." Whispers Kakashi, proud of the steadiness in his voice as he watches the Kyuubi no Kitsune tilt his students head and roll his shoulders like he's a puppet.

Sakura reaches to grab an ashen-faced Sasuke, hopefully to drag him _away_ from the predator lounging in their midst but the Kyuubi interrupts her movement with a low rumble of "No they both stay. The brat has imprinted on them and so they get to be a part of this too."

Kakashi is _terrified_.

His mind is whirling through everything Kushina ever mentioned to him about what being a vessel for the Kyuubi entailed. It's been years and a corrupting sadness blurs some of his recollections but Kakashi is certain that she never once mentioned the Fox taking control of her form like this.

Did Naruto's seal break? Is the Kyuubi about to burst from his Genin's body and rain havoc on the Leaf village again? 

But, the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra doesn't seem to be rising like a bloody tide as it has in the past when Naruto's seal weakens. The beast is just...here, crouching below the surface of Naruto's skin.

"Are you done panicking now, Wolf?" asks the Kyuubi.

"Wolf?" comes Sakura's voice. She's tugged Sasuke to her side, closer to Kakashi and she's still clutching the other Genin's hand like a lifeline. Both of them are staring at Naruto like he's grown a second head. In some ways, supposes Kakashi, it's almost like he has.

"Yes." The Fox responds smugly. "Quick footed and tragic, teeth sharp but spirit howling like a fool for something he can never have again." It turns its lupine gaze towards Kakashi again "You've grown since my last vessel knew you, Hatake, but once a wolf, always a wolf."

"I've always thought I was more of a Hound." Kakashi hears himself saying distantly, still trying to process the fact that not only are they speaking to the Kyuubi no Kitsune, arguably the most powerful and destructive being in the world, but that the being has _opinions_ about him.

The Kyuubi leans forward, pointed incisors gleaming in the afternoon light, "and yet here you are, chewing through your collar and snapping at the hands that whelped you." 

"You mean his loyalty to the Leaf," Sakura says. She's studying Naruto, calm but focused. The waver in her voice not enough to dissuade her from speaking. Either she doesn't really understand how much of a threat the Kyuubi is or, she really is that bullheadedly brave and Kakashi just never noticed somehow.

"Smart little mouse." Murmurs the Fox, eyes darting her way. 

Kakashi is struck with the image of a Fox swallowing a mouse whole and interjects, his pulse thundering in his own ears. 

"Kyuubi-San" he starts. Respect feels like the smart move when talking to a being the size of a small mountain with enough Chakra in one of its paws to literally wipe Kakashi from the face of the planet, "What can we do for you?"

Sasuke spins to send a shocked glare his way. Kakashi knows that Sasuke glares to convey most emotions and it's a testament to his familiarity with the boy that he can tell this particular one is communicating Sensei-what-the-fuck.

The Fox laughs, eyes far too aware to have missed the silent exchange.

"The brat is fine little Uchiha, worry not." The Nine-tails sounds amused.

Sasuke sends another glare Kakashi's way and then turns to look back at Not-Naruto. He has a look in his eye that sends a rumble of trepidation down Kakashi's already _very rumbled_ spine and oh _gods_ he hopes the Genin doesn't do anything stupid. 

"If you hurt him I'll fucking destroy you." Promises Sasuke, the dark red of the Sharingan colliding with the bright crimson of the Nine-tail's gaze. 

_Fuck_ thinks Kakashi eloquently as the Fox's grin vanishes like smoke in the wind.

Killing intent suddenly blooms from Naruto's body in a rush. Kakashi physically flinches at the onslaught of palpable rage and Sakura releases Sasuke's hand to fall backward onto the ground, jade eyes full of terror. But Sasuke doesn't move. His face goes ever paler than normal as the waves of concentrated hatred break over him, but his back stays rigid, his eyes locked on the creature holding his teammate's body hostage.

The Kyuubi's voice comes again, dark and cruel in a way it hasn't yet. 

"You Uchihas, always under the impression that you can bend me to your whims, can destroy my will with the correct application of your righteous hatred. Despite my foolish vessel's fondness for you, try to wield me or break me like some common tool, boy, and I will use your bones as toothpicks to clean your flesh from in between my teeth."

There is a fine tremble rushing through Sasuke's muscles and sweat is running down his brow in rivulets. Kakashi needs to say _something_ , to step in between his Genin and the fury of the centuries old personification of violence that Sasuke is for some gods damned reason _antagonizing_. But the Fox's aura is so powerful, so utterly terrifying that Kakashi's hindbrain isn't even sure if breathing is a good idea at the moment, let alone trying to fight the creature. Something is absolutely wrong with Naruto's seal if the Kyuubi's killing intent is this powerful. 

"Please," comes Sasuke's voice, soft and honest and vulnerable in a way the boy never is, "please, he's my friend."

The Fox tilts Naruto's head, violent rage dropping to be replaced by curiosity. Kakashi thinks a bit hysterically that if the boy had fuzzy orange ears they'd be perked in interest.

"I've never heard an Uchiha beg." Murmurs the Kyuubi, almost as though it's a thought that escaped without its say so. It shrugs it off and then continues, "I'm not seeking to hurt the brat. We are bound together no matter what I want. Thanks to that damned Minato, if the boy dies then my Chakra is torn from me and ruptured in a way that will take centuries to heal. A measly human life-time in a cage is infuriating but preferred to that."

It turns back to Kakashi, allowing Sasuke to slump back in gasping breaths and shakes against Sakura as the Fox's cruel attention leaves him. 

The sharp lupine smile is back.

"I just thought that I could provide some...insight on your little ventures and some clarity on my changing conditions with the little Uzumaki."

"Why." Kakashi asks, trying and failing to sound like he believes even for a second that the personification of rage and destruction actually wants to _help them out_.

The Kyuubi shrugs "Because I've had a front-row seat to the melodrama that is your team's plan to abandon ship and honestly, I'm intrigued. I haven't ever had a vessel defect before and watching how that might play out is far more interesting than you all getting caught and executed. I was just starting to get settled in this _prison_ and I'd hate to be ripped out and sealed into a new one or worse scattered across the elemental nations into tiny mites of Chakra." 

Kakashi nods shakily. Who is he to judge the choices of centuries old constructs of chakra and violence.

"Right. Entertainment value." He says, "care to elaborate on the changing conditions thing."

Naruto's body leans back languidly against the wall and his finger taps at his chin for a moment as the Fox thinks.

"Well to put it simply," the Kyuubi says "the Seal that Minato used to lock me inside this boy is more complicated than you all know. It's based off a standard Eight Trigrams elemental array but with some twists of Minato and Kushina's own designs thrown in. I am no Seal Master but this particular lock that I've been bound by is a step to the left of what a traditional Jinchuriki would be saddled with." 

"I thought you said simply." Mutters Sasuke and to Kakashi's distant, delighted shock, Sakura plops a hand over his mouth and hisses "Be quiet."

The Nine-Tails continues as if there had been no interruption. 

"The seal that the Yondaime placed uses what I believe Mito's old seal instructors would have called Airokku, or Bond Lacings. They are… lattices I suppose is the closest word- that allow for the seal placer and recipient to strengthen the seal matrix internally with the connections the seal bearer has to certain selected figures or objects."

Kakashi is a genius but sealing is a kind of science that has always gone above his head.

"So…" he starts as he tries to parse through the ramifications of what the Kyuubi is saying.

"So Naruto's Dad made the Eight Trigrams more secure with Naruto's emotional ties to things he loves. The more he loves, the stronger the seal." Cuts in Sakura.  
Her hand is still over Sasuke's mouth but her eyes are locked on the Kyuubi, thoughts spinning behind their jade depths in a nearly visible dance. 

"That's right, Mouse. It anchors the seal you could say," smirks the Kyuubi.

"But that doesn't make sense!" Sakura snaps and Kakashi _swears_ these kids are going to make his hair fall out as his Genin releases Sasuke to lean into the Fox's space with an annoyed look on her face. 

"Naruto told us he was sealed as a baby," she continues, "which means he was too little to have developed any real emotional attachments and since the Yondaime was supposed to have been some kind of strategic genius he would have realized that he and his wife would likely die fighting you so he wouldn't have coded them into the Airokku…what was the object that the Airokku were connected to? Love for what?" 

And suddenly everything is perfectly clear to Kakashi in the same horrifying way wiping a dusty windowpane to reveal an avalanche bearing down on him would be. 

"It's his love of the village." He says, soft and dismayed, "that's what the Airokku is, isn't it? Minato Sensei was always such an optimist and I know he never really understood the persecution Jinchuriki faced so he would have assumed that even if he died the village would take care of Naruto...raise him…" 

He trails off feeling sick as the Kyuubi's red eyes bore into him. 

The Fox tilts Naruto's head in acknowledgment.

Sakura picks up the thread, "So when Orochimaru told us all those horrible things about Konoha, and we decided to leave…"

Naruto's hands are swept wide open in a look-and-see gesture.

"It was a final blow against the seal which has been weakening since he was a toddler. It's now faded to the point that I can move more freely. Not enough to escape unfortunately but it is enough that my Chakra is intermingling with the brat's and my consciousness can step into the driver's seat for a bit if I wish." 

"And you can talk with him." Adds Sasuke quietly.

"Yes and I can talk to him, more than I've ever been able to before. It's strange to say the least. Like my jail sentence has suddenly been reduced to parole if you will." 

Kakashi's thoughts are a litany of expletives and borderline blind panic.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune is a monster. A Demonic entity of enormous power, no remorse, and no heart. It cares not for humans and Kakashi and his Genin are no exception to that. And now the creature has nearly free reign inside Naruto's consciousness and the ability to take control entirely. It could choose to slit all their throats in their sleep if it wanted too. The single bright side that Kakashi can see, is that the Kitsune admitted to a reluctance to seeing Naruto killed, and with the current path Team 7 is on, if Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were to die, Naruto most certainly would as well. 

So it's likely, hopefully, true that the Fox has a vested interest in keeping them alive.

It's insurance, shoddy at best, and gambling with Naruto's life as their uneasy collateral, but it's the best they have at the moment. 

"Right." Says Kakashi, forcing cheerfulness into his voice that he doesn't feel "well thank you for informing us of all that I suppose!"

"I wasn't doing it to be helpful, Wolf." snorts the Kyuubi, "I just wanted to avoid the risk of you digging into the seal to try and fix it and screwing me and the brat over in the process."

Kakashi hopes the hum he offers in return conveys assent and not the edges of a mental break like he feels.

The Tailed Beast gives him a scathing look and Kakashi's hopes fade.

"Don't lose your head boy," snaps the Fox "it'll only get the brat killed."

As if Kakashi doesn't already know that. 

Naruto's form sits back up from where it's been lounging against the wall and Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all twitch with nerves at the movement.

The Kyuubi rolls its eyes.

"Right well not that this hasn't been fun but I'm going to pass the reins back over now I think." 

It sends one last look towards Kakashi and then its eyes blink and some of the sharp brightness fades from them and, as simple as that, Naruto is blinking confusedly around at his shell shocked team.

"Why do I feel like I just woke up from a really weird and shitty nap." Says the blonde Genin.

"Are you okay?!" Sasuke inquires immediately, leaning forward as if to grab Naruto's shoulder but coming short a few inches.

"Yessss?" Naruto responds, looking confusedly at Sasuke's hand hovering anxiously near his shoulder and Sakura's wide eyes and the sweat on Kakashi's brow. 

"Do you know what happened?" Kakashi asks.

"You had asked about how I was feelin' and I told you about the voice and the noises and then…" he trails off, thinking, before "Oh holy shit! Did Kurama come talk to you guys!?" 

What. Thinks Kakashi. 

Sakura says "Kurama?"

"Yeah, that's his name. The Kyuubi's. Is he okay?"

"Is it...okay." parrots Kakashi, the _what_ growing louder and more pronounced in his brain. 

"Uh yeah. I mean, I know he's like a million times stronger than us but my seal has felt really weird lately and he's all tangled up in it and I was kinda worried it was hurting him?" Naruto says all at once as if these were completely normal concerns to have. 

"You were worried about the Kyuubi no Kitsune being hurt." 

"Yes?" The blonde responds, looking for all the world like he doesn't get where Kakashi's confusion is coming from. 

Kakashi feels like punching himself in the face. 

"I have. A few questions." Manages the silver-haired Jonin instead of assuaging the Jinchuriki's worries.

Naruto nods agreeably. 

"One, how do you know the Kyuubi's name?"

Naruto cocks his head thinking, "Uhhh I'm really not sure, you know? It just kinda appeared in my head one day. But like...I just know that his name is Kurama and he's really, really old and he likes thunderstorms and he misses his siblings a lot."

"Right," agrees Kakashi like this is normal information to find out about what is more or less a natural disaster in the skin of a many-stories tall fox-demon. One that murdered dozens of his comrades and also the last family that he felt like he had. 

Boxing that up and moving right along. 

"So Kurama has been...talking to you? About what exactly?"

"All kinds of stuff! For the first couple hours after the snake bastard told us everything it was pretty much just whatever he was thinkin' about cause I don't think he realized I could hear him. I'm pretty sure he's kinda gotten used to talking to himself cause it’s just him in the seal? I think he's lonely." 

"Mhmm." Says Kakashi, fighting the urge to find a brick wall to slam his head against. "Sure the Kyuubi no Kitsune is lonely, right."

Kakashi doesn’t manage to fully quell the incredulity in his voice and Naruto actually whips his head up to glare at him. It's not his usual goofy glare either, the one that looks like it would fit better on a particularly puffed up kitten or small dog. This one is scathing and heartfelt, heightened by the crimson eyes.

"Shut the fuck up Sensei. He's a person too okay, I can feel it. He likes storms and he misses his family and he's been the reason that me and Sasuke and Sakura haven't died like twice now." 

"Naruto, it killed your parents." Says Kakashi quietly, and he's aware that it's cruel and that the boy already knows what happened to Kushina and Minato but the Fox is a _monster_ and Naruto needs to hold onto that. 

Naruto stands.

"Yeah and that makes me so fuckin' sad! I wish that he hadn't done that! I wish I had someone who would have been there to hug me and tuck me in and yell at the other kids when they hit me but I _didn't_ , okay?”

The boy's voice is rising in volume and his chakra is swelling dangerously to match. 

"I didn't have a family but sometimes I did have a voice that told me to eat vegetables or we'd both die or to fight back even when the big kids were kickin' me and I was too scared to move and I didn't really get that it was him until this week and I know he killed my parents but he's also the only person who has _always been there_."

Kakashi is losing the reins of his own temper quickly, guilt and misery making his grip slippery, "Naruto it's not a person, it's a demon and-"

Naruto roars, orange chakra leaping to life around him like a cyclone. 

" **His** name is **Kurama**."

Kakashi and him stare at each other, Naruto's breath coming in pants of rage and Kakashi's in the slow controlled pace of Hound backed against a wall. The fiery chakra still slowly swirls around the boy, a single foxtail emerging from it swiping side to side with agitation behind him.

Pick your battles, Kakashi, comes a voice in his head that sounds like Minato. 

"Fine," the Jonin says finally, "we worry about the Fox at another time."

He closes his eyes for a moment, intentionally wrenching his mind away from the calculating and deadly crawl of Hound's thoughts, a side effect of getting so worked up, and says "Well, like I told Sakura this morning, broken seals and curse marks and fucked up sexism aside, we have a lot of ground to cover."

Naruto is still glaring at him slightly even as he settles back on the ground to listen.

"The final stages of the Chuunin exams are in one month which gives us 29 and a half days to prepare as much as we can." Kakashi continues. 

The kids nod.

"Why that day?" Asks Sakura.

"Several different reasons but the main one being that nearly all Konoha ninja will be inside the village walls to both watch the tournament and protect against the threat of the other visiting nations. It will mean that when we run, we only really have to worry about pursuit from behind us."

The kids nod again. 

"Of course it may bite us in the long run because it also means the other villages will learn faster that the Leaf's Jinchuriki and the Last Sane Uchiha are effectively free game. It'll put a target on our back earlier than I'd like but I think the advantage is worth it overall."

He doesn't really know why he's talking them through all this but he supposes that it's their lives that he's gambling with in this bet so they deserve at least to know his thought process.

"We trust you Sensei!" Naruto says with a bright smile, apparently forgetting that only a minute ago they were shouting at each other. 

Kakashi wonders if it's ever going to stop feeling like he's been eviscerated when the boy says things like that so easily, like they are true and Kakashi deserves to hear them.

Sakura is twisting her hair around and around her finger, a contemplative look in her eye. 

"Sakura?" He prompts, refusing to continue the trend of ignoring the girl and quickly realizing from the experiences of the past couple days that he'd be handicapping himself to do so anyway.

She tilts her head thoughtfully and then asks "All of the Leaf's ninja's come back to the village during the Chuunin exam because the other nations being here is seen as a security risk, right? The Hokage feels that they'll use the fact that they are inside the village walls to attack?"

Kakashi inclines his head.

Sakura releases her fingers from her hair and says, a mean little smile twisting across her lips like a snake, "what if we made it seem like those fears had come true then? To cover our tracks?"

"It could start a war," Kakashi says dryly but his mind is already running ahead, cataloging weak points in the villages defenses, considering critical infrastructures, weighing how to maximize chaos and minimize casualties. 

He's not a strategist like Minato was or Obito could have been. He was always more alike with Kushina, violence in a thin human skin.

But predators can still plan, can still hunt. 

"It wouldn't start a war if we made it obvious enough that it was us who had done it." Argues Sakura unaware that Kakashi has already been sold on the idea, "we sow confusion, make them think that some foreign power is attacking and by the time the smoke clears and the realize it's us, we'll be gone and the message that we intend to stay gone for good will be loud and clear."

"A final fuck you," Naruto says with a nearly bittersweet smile.

"A first fuck you more like." Sasuke contradicts him with a bloody light in his eye.

Some part of Kakashi wonders if he should be correcting the Genin's language and then he remembers that they are planning what is basically a terrorist attack and decides that in the grand scheme of things, the cursing is probably not so important.

Out loud he says, "well then, we have plans to make and curse marks to disrupt and Tailed Beasts to ignore. Here are the plans for the coming days. I'm going to give all three of you some very important assignments. Some of them will be to help us prepare as a team, things that need completing for us to pull this thing off. Some will be to make it so individually you can grow strong enough in your weak areas that you won't be at risk of slowing us down or putting us in danger. We'll talk more about what those look like tonight." 

The Genin listen intently. 

"Also," he says like it's an afterthought and not something he decided on last night in all his tossing and turning, "you three should stay here. There are plenty of spare rooms and we need to build team cohesion significantly. Cohabitation is one of the most effective ways to do that." 

"Plus it keeps us away from the village so Sasuke doesn't lose his patience and try to kill someone," adds Sakura.

Sasuke just shrugs like it's a fair point.

Kakashi sighs.

"Yes please, no murdering anyone. No acting suspiciously in general if you can manage. That means wearing your damn headbands proudly and if you have to, singing the Hokages praises."

He looks pointedly at Sasuke. 

"Don't let pride kill us before we've even set foot outside the walls."

Sasuke frowns, a little angry, a little sad, and responds "It's not pride, Sensei, it's loyalty."

Ouch. 

"Right well, maybe just...keep your loyalty to yourself as much as possible or they'll figure us out and drag us all to Torture and Interrogation. From what I've seen, the difference between pride and loyalty don't matter in those walls. They don't last long enough to." 

"Fine." Sasuke concedes, looking a bit frustrated but thankfully _listening_.

"Spend the rest of this afternoon packing whatever you'll need from your homes. I'll go grab some groceries while you all are gone and then this evening we'll meet back here, have a few team exercises, make dinner, and start planning."

The kids voice their various agreements and move to comply. 

29 days, Kakashi thinks, watching the still somewhat nervous way that Sakura moves to walk alongside her teammates and the exhausted hunch to Sasuke's shoulders as the curse mark wears on him even now. Naruto is talking animatedly, arms waving as he describes something or other and Kakashi can barely conflate the cheerful boy with the snarling whirlwind of hate that had spoken from his form in his stead. 

So much to do, so little time to do it, and absolutely no room for misstep.

It's fine though. Kakashi is a genius.

He can make this work.

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man if you thought this whole defecting thing was gonna happen _smoothly_ or _soonly_ you were mistaken.  
> For real though we've got a solid seven-ish more chapters of setting the stage for Team 7's grand exit so fingers crossed you don't mind some more time in good ol' Konoha.  
> I hope that posting a couple of days early can make up for the wait for the real drama.  
> I'm definitely leaning into the fact that Fūinjutsu is very underexplained in canon to pull some strings about why Kurama gets to pop into the story so early on because one, Kakashi needs another semi-reasonable semi-adult presence in this little insurgence or he _is_ going to lose it and two, I love Kurama.  
> Next Friday you can look forward to some new POVs, some new character appearances, a bit of action and things further spiraling out of Kakashi's control.  
> As always, I love hearing your thoughts and predictions and ideas so please drop a comment! <3


	4. Hold The Line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will you hold the line? When every one of them is giving up or giving in, tell me in this house of mine?  
> Nothing ever comes without a consequence or cost, tell me will the stars align? Will heaven step in? Will it save us from our sin? Will it? 'Cause this house of mine stands strong.  
> \- Natural, Imagine Dragons
> 
> edited by loverinstinct

Sasuke sits at the long bar counter in the Hatake kitchen and watches steam curl from the cup of matcha in front of him. It's early, the sun isn't even up yet.

Team Seven is though.

Sakura has been gone for nearly two hours, running through her stamina building exercises like she does every morning. The routine that Kakashi laid out for her is fairly brutal.

Naruto is also not around. Sometimes he stays at the compound to carry out his meditations in the mornings but more often than not, he takes up residence on the Hokage mountain. It had worried them at first, that he still felt drawn there, but after some careful questions Kakashi had been able to pull from the blonde that it was a way of further distancing himself from his former dream. Sasuke can still hear the thread of disgust that had curled through his counterpart's voice when he described the sick feeling, the dissonance, he experienced while he sat at the monument.

It's a weird way to practice finding inner balance and stability in Sasuke's opinion but, whatever worked.

The four of them had been staying on the Hatake clan lands for nearly a week now and they are finally starting to fall into a routine. Sasuke and Sakura still stumble into awkwardness with some regularity and Naruto seems to slingshot between defiant happiness and quiet mournfulness nearly hourly.

But they are adjusting, all of them.

Kakashi Sensei has them doing team building exercises every night. Sometimes it's as simple as cooking dinner together and sometimes it's playing ninja tag with the Ninken while two of them are blindfolded.

It seems to be working though.

He sighs, reaching a pale hand to rub at his shoulder where the curse mark sits and festers. It's the reason he's here, drinking tea while his team and Sensei are off getting stronger.

Sasuke hates it. The orders from Kakashi to rest and avoid using his chakra make sense in the grand scheme of things. chakra use will spread Orochimaru's influence deeper and deeper into his chakra system, like clawed pale fingers burying themselves in his skin.

But the stillness is driving him insane. He feels useless. Worse than useless he feels vulnerable.

It's like the red swirling eyes of his brother are on him at all times whispering "get stronger. This is the only reason you are alive."

And he _knows_ now that Itachi is less of a villain than he always thought he was, that he was as much a victim as Sasuke was, but he's lived for years under that shadow and one week isn't enough to dispel it.

His hands shake as he picks up the cup again to take a sip of the smooth, grassy tea.

He can feel the anxiety in his veins, the constant need for movement, for improvement, tearing at him as he just sits here, such an easy target, such a _weakling_.

The desire to run strikes him again. He's been feeling it for the entire week, the itching, malicious idea to just grab a bag and strike out on his own. "What reason do you have to trust them?" his insecurities hiss, "who's to say they won't turn on you or try and hold you back when the time comes?"

Sasuke sets the cup back on the bamboo counter with an audible click.

Deep breaths, he thinks, clenching his fist on the counter and forcing himself to remember the promise that he made with Sakura and Naruto.

He will get stronger. All three of them will. Together.

He is biding his time so that he can grow on _his_ terms, not Orochimaru's and not the Villages.

And until then, he reminds himself, he is safe here in the Hatake lands. The scent wards are impressive and they won't let anyone in that Team Seven didn't want. Kakashi had shown them all how to manipulate and adjust the matrix at the start of the week so as of now only the four of them and Kakashi's Ninken have access to the compound.

Sasuke knows this is true because he's developed a habit of checking the wards every afternoon, confirming that their ozone hum is still strong and consistent. It's a nervous habit, he knows. Taking what little control he can while he's having to sit on the bench. But it still brings him comfort to know that someone can't slip in while they're unaware or asleep and attack. He wouldn't put it past the fucking Hokage to order as much if they were found out, after all.

The part of his mind that always sounds like Itachi says "we had wards too, little brother, see what good that did us?"

Sasuke shuts that line of thought down. He leans into the wicker back of his chair, counting his breaths and cataloging the sensations of the room around him. It's something Kakashi taught him on their first night here. One part grounding technique, one part awareness of his surroundings.

Breathe in for six, hold for seven, breathe out for eight. Repeat.

Pay attention to all sounds, smells and sensations around you.

Sasuke focuses, can hear the distant chirp of birds, the ever subtle creak of the shifting house, the tap of water somewhere down the hall where Naruto probably forgot to turn the antiquated sink handle enough again. The air smells of morning dew and dog fur and the black coffee that Sakura and Sensei drink when they rise.

He breaths in.

The sharp ringing of alarm bells splits the morning.

Sasuke lurches from his seat, heart slamming into overdrive.

The wards!

He snatches a Kunai from where it's secured under the bar counter and darts towards the nearest door.

There are two major reasons that alarms go off for most Ward systems. In a normal chakra ward the alarms are only triggered when a person with unidentified chakra has attempted to pass through the barrier or when the Ward itself has been damaged or disabled. In addition to the standard security measures, the Hatake Wards also trigger whenever a person coded into their matrix passes through their boundary with particular scent markers indicating pain and distress above a reasonable level.

None of the options are good.

As Sasuke flings open the door he is immediately greeted with the sight of Sakura reaching to open it herself. The pink haired Genin is teary eyed and trembling. There is a red mark across the side of her face like she's been struck.

"The Wards-" Sasuke starts, but she cuts him off.

"It was me."

He doesn't respond as she shoves past him into the house, only tucks the Kunai into his holster and turns to follow her a couple of paces back.

Sasuke runs his Sharingan across her form, ignoring the sickening pulse the curse mark gives as he uses his chakra. She doesn't seem hurt aside from the mark on her face but her muscles are tense with adrenaline and her movements have an unsteadiness to them that speaks of being dangerously out of control. Sasuke intentionally slows his breaths and keeps his hands well away from his weapons pouch. Sakura is his teammate and he could take her down fairly easily if needed, but he had it drilled into him like everyone else at the academy that there are few things more dangerous or unpredictable than an emotionally unstable ninja. His distress won't help in this situation and he might actually end up with a Kunai to the throat if he's not careful. He'll wait for her to let him know what's going on, to tell him what she needs.

Sakura beelines for the kitchen, back rigid.

Sasuke trails her at the edge of her shadow.

He watches as she heads to the cupboards and grabs a glass. The pinkette moves to the sink to fill it with water. As she turns, holding the glass in her hands, Sasuke eyes her cautiously from the door.

A moment passes and then with a snarl, Sakura hurls the glass of water at the nearest wall.

Sasuke flinches, waiting for the explosion of glass shards on impact.

It doesn't come.

Instead, Kakashi, still only halfway through the kitchen window, holds the cup in his hand.

Sasuke didn't even hear the window open.

His Sensei's Sharingan is uncovered, spinning slowly as he takes in the room at a glance. He either heard the alarms or has some other way of being informed that they went off apparently.

"Sasuke?" The Jonin inquires, voice quiet and blank.

"No threats present" Sasuke responds immediately, understanding what his Sensei is asking. His own Sharingan can easily pinpoint the dangerous slowness of the Jonin's breaths, the deadly calm in his gaze, the falsely relaxed state of his muscles. They've seen it a couple of times now, this measured preparedness for violence; in Wave, on that first night during the thunderstorm, then again when Kurama appeared.

Kakashi seems less man and more predator in such moments.

The silver haired Jonin drops from the windowsill and moves to set the now empty glass of water on the sill next to him.

His feet don't make even a whisper of sound on the now wet floor.

He turns back to them, lifting a hand to move his Hitai-ate back into place over his eye and then raising his exposed eyebrow in a silent question. It's a common Kakashi facial expression, the care-to-explain-this-nonsense look he gives the three of them so often, but this version still has that cold sharp edge to it. It probably should make Sasuke nervous.

It doesn't.

"So?" Their Sensei prompts, watching Sakura carefully.

The pink-haired Genin still stands by the sink, now staring down at the floor with her trembling fists by her sides.

Sasuke sees the moment that Kakashi recognizes the red mark on her cheek for what it is and his eyes go several degrees colder and more deadly.

"Who?" He asks.

Sakura is silent for a few moments longer.

"My Dad." She finally says, and then, "I broke his arm for it."

Sasuke sucks in a breath and some of the coldness is replaced in Kakashi's eyes with surprise. Surprise and a flash of pride.

"Well that complicates some things" is what he says and then awkwardly, "do you want to talk about it?"

"He and Mom were mad about not staying at home and how much I've been training. We fought. I yelled and he got in my space. I told him that he'd better back off or he'd regret it. He slapped me. He regretted it."

Kakashi nods like this makes perfect sense.

Sasuke asks without really thinking about it, "did you mean to?"

Sakura spins to him with a snarl, "He attacked me! He deserved it!"

"But did you mean to?"

"No!" She explodes and promptly bursts into tears.

Sasuke takes an awkward step toward her but Kakashi is already there pulling her into a hug.

Sakura slams her fists against his chest as she sobs. The Jonin flinches at the blows, Sakura has been getting stronger and the hits probably _hurt_ , but he doesn't let go. Finally, after a few moments, her breathing slows and she slumps in Kakashi's arms.

"Mom told me never to come back." Sasuke can just make out her words from where her face is still pressed against Kakashi's flak jacket.

"You don't need them" Kakashi tells her gently.

"No but apparently they don't need me either and that hurts a lot," whispers Sakura.

Oh, thinks Sasuke, her family may not be dead like his and Naruto's (and he thinks Kakashi's) but in some ways this may be worse.

He had never cared much about Sakura. The way she fawned over him made him uncomfortable and her cruelty towards Naruto always sparked something hot and serrated in him.

But this week has been….different.

There are still moments where she looks at him and he can practically feel the pedestal being built under his feet but they are growing fewer and farther between.  
She's working hard and is determinedly intentional about every interaction she has with Naruto and him both, measuring each word like the flight path of a tricky Kunai throw. Honestly, in the brief moments when she's not considering every action through a film of guilt or treating him like he's perfect or slipping into that sweet perfect girl skin that sets his teeth on edge, she's really fucking cool.

She's still too careful around them to see those moments often. But sometimes in the morning when she's tired and annoyed and snarling at him to move over and share the _damned sink_ or at night when she and Naruto are doing their stretches together in the Dojo and her laughter turns into snorts at his theatrical groaning or when they all cook dinner together, stepping on each other's toes and arguing about seasoning and teasing Kakashi for wearing his mask even inside, he can see the flashes of someone he could be friends with. Someone he could grow to call precious.

"Welcome to the No-Parents Club," he tries awkwardly, cringing when the tone it comes out in is more deadpan than the lighter joking one he was aiming for.

Sakura still sends him a watery grateful smile and there is no worship in her gaze, just a quiet, honest comradery and Sasuke has the sudden urge to go break her mom's arm so that both her parent's match.

Huh, that's new.

~

Elsewhere in the village, Naruto is walking back from his meditation practice. It's something that Kakashi has him doing, a bit of self-awareness and balance exercises and more importantly, learning to shield and mask his chakra. According to his Sensei, Naruto's chakra is...loud. Even without Kurama's energy bleeding in, Naruto's own is intense and very very noticeable. Not the best for trying to vanish from the paranoid eyes of every major Elemental Nation.

Learning to mask is going pretty good though! He had a lot of trouble with it at first. Kakashi had done his best to explain but every time he tried to do what the Jonin said it just slipped through his fingers like sand.

But yesterday, while he was sitting on the Third's giant stone head things had shifted in his favor. He had been angry and frustrated and absolutely terrified that he was gonna be the reason all of them get caught when they run ‘cuz he was too _dumb_ to match the flow of his chakra to his environment like Kakashi had instructed.

A familiar, warm voice had broken his spiral with a rumble of "The Wolf really doesn't know how to teach worth a damn does he."

It was the first time Kurama has said so much as a word to him since he had taken over to bitch at Kakashi Sensei a week ago. Naruto had thought that maybe the Fox was mad at him, or madder than normal at least.

"Kurama!" He replied ecstatically, the pain of sitting on solid stone for two hours forgotten, "Hi! Sorry that Kakashi was rude to you! I'm working on convincing him that you're cool, I promise!"

Kurama was silent for several long beats before speaking.

"You don't have to do that, Kit."

"Well duh,” Naruto had shrugged, “but you are always there to help me out when shit gets rough so I want him to not be an ass to you!"

"Right," Kurama said with some strange note to his voice that Naruto couldn't really pin down.

The mix of emotions that the Jinchuriki felt from the link they shared was a muddled mess anyway so he had shrugged it off, deciding it wasn't important.  
Kurama was talking to him again and that was what mattered.

To his bafflement, The Fox had gone on to step in and correct some of what Naruto had been doing. He was strict and because he literally lived in Naruto's head he could see the moment Naruto started getting distracted and would snarl and bark at him until he got back on track. But he was also fair. Kurama didn't become angry when Naruto got confused, he just explained things in a different way.

At one point the Fox had huffed out a laugh and said "You and Kushina both, couldn't understand a thing told to you straight to save your damn lives."  
"That was my mom?" Naruto asked, tentative because he and Kurama barely talked normally and they had _never_ , talked about his parents.

There was a pause, something almost like a sigh, and then Kurama's voice saying "Yeah Kit, I'll tell you more about her sometime."

It's been like that for the past couple days, Kurama chipping in occasionally to redirect or explain things while Naruto is meditating and then providing sparse but mostly benevolent commentary through the rest of his day as well. Instead of focusing on matching his chakra to the world around him, Kurama has him focusing inward and imagining the energy as a bright light that he carefully cups between his hands or tucks away under a bowl. It seems to be working much much better.

Today, the Nine-Tails has been quieter than usual it seems, but Naruto isn't worried as he kicks at a pebble on the road, meandering back towards the Hatake Compound.

He should probably be hurrying because Kakashi usually has them doing sparring starting at about 10 and he still needs to snag something to eat. He's been hungrier than normal lately. Dizzy too. He hasn't mentioned it to Kakashi yet because Sensei has enough to worry about with Sasuke's Curse Mark and helping Sakura. And also ‘cuz Sasuke would definitely realize something was up if he did say something and then do the thing where he acts all angry but just smells super scared and worried and Sakura might start walking even _more_ on eggshells around him.

Nah, better if they don't know.

So even though he needs to hurry, he walks slowly and breathes through some of the dizziness. The hunger and unsteadiness are always the worst right after his meditations at the Hokage monument it seems. It's bad enough that if he tried to travel by roof right now he might fall off and break his nose. Definitely better to walk, he reasons.

Besides, the day is warm and bright and the sun on Naruto's face seems to sink into his soul and warm something that's been slowly dying of frostbite.  
He won't tell his team this either, but he's terrified of leaving the village. The Leaf was more than his home, it was his _dream_. Losing that has honestly sucked.

He knows that it'll be okay eventually because the Leaf is _shit_ at its core and if he had stayed and followed his dream, whatever life he lived in it would be shit too and besides, now he has Sasuke and Kakashi and Sakura anyway to help him find a new dream.

But it still really, really sucks right now.

So he'll walk slowly, and he'll enjoy the sun and the peace and won't think about the weird unsteadiness that plagues his limbs or the hunger gnawing at his stomach or the empty glaring void where the idea of being Hokage once was.

But life doesn't want to go his way today because as he's crossing a small bridge in the Lotus district of the village, an oily, rolling chuckle reaches his sharp ears.

He stops. The sight of a tall, white haired man, wearing a red haori and crouched on a ledge 12 feet in the air peering into the women's Hot Springs through a window is too strange to ignore.

The tall stranger must sense Naruto standing behind him because he turns and raises one bushy white eyebrow.

"Shit." Comes Kurama's rumbling voice.

"You know him?" Asks Naruto, glad as always that the Fox is able to understand him without having to speak aloud.

"Unfortunately all too well." Kurama hisses, real distaste in his voice.

Before the Nine-tails can elaborate, the white-haired ninja leaps off the roof he's been crouched on and lands in front of Naruto. The bridge trembles slightly under his impact.

Naruto flinches.

He's...really tall. And Naruto doesn't like the way he smells, like sweat and sake and road dust. Plus there is something about the way he's looking at him, like Naruto is at once both a fascinating bug under a microscope and a ghost.

"You're Minato's boy" says the strange ninja.

Naruto narrows his eyes at the same time that Kurama growls, "Sage damn it, I was hoping he wouldn't recognize you."

"Red huh? Always thought you'd have your father's eyes" the man continues before his face splits into a wide white grin.

"Right…" mumbles Naruto feeling terrifically uncomfortable and unsure how to proceed.

The litany of "fuck fuck _fuck_ " that Kurama is chanting isn't helping him find his footing either.

Naruto has the sudden urge to snarl like his Lupine passenger does as the man steps even closer to him, a hand the size of Naruto's whole head dropping onto his shoulder.

"I was good friends with your Dad, kid."

"Naruto," the Fox barks out, sounding nearly frantic all of a sudden, "get his hand off us, too much more contact and he may be able to tell the seal is too weak to contain me properly."

Naruto obeys instantly, taking a step back and covering it clumsily with a cough.

The ninja tilts his like a confused dog but his eyes track Naruto closely.

"Uhhh you haven't told me your name yet, Ninja-San" he says, falling back on social niceties to create some distance, a trick he learned from Sakura actually.

The grin flashes back across the man's face instantly and in a booming bravado he proclaims, "Then listen closely boy!" He leaps backward a few feet, tapping his wooden sandals like a stage performer and swinging his massive white ponytail, "I am the man with no enemies in the North, South, East, West or Heavens! I am the great Sage of Toad Mountain!"

He grabs the massive sealing scroll off his back, rolling it across his shoulders and flinging it skyward. His eyebrows waggle at the blonde Jinchuriki like this is all very impressive.

"Oh good. He hasn't changed a fucking bit. I still hate his guts." Comes Kurama's voice, falsely cheerful, and Naruto, who was staring in disbelief till this moment, has to choke back a giggle.

The apparent Toad Sage continues, unaware of Naruto's struggles.

"I was a favorite student to the God of Ninja and Beloved Sensei to your Father,"

Naruto does pay attention to that. A student of the 3rd Hokage and a mentor to his father the 4th, that would make this man unquestionably loyal to Konoha and, subsequently, a serious threat.

Shit.

"I am the Legendary Sanin, Jiraiya!" The man ends theatrically, one foot in the air as the scroll lands balanced perfectly upright in his open palm.

Naruto stares. The name doesn't ring any bells.

"Kurama?" He asks cautiously, his gut is already giving him a pretty good measure of this man but he wants to be sure.

"He's bad news kid. He's the closet thing to a Seal Master since Uzushiogakure fell, Summons Master, Sage and familiar enough with me and my siblings that he'll fuck our shit up if he realizes how degraded the seal is. He's also a boot-licking, Konoha-kissing asshole."

"Damn," Naruto responds, eyes never leaving the Sanin.

Jiraiya has been watching Naruto closely, apparently waiting for a sufficiently impressed reaction from the boy.

Before he gets one, the door to the Sauna behind him opens and a dark haired Chuunin woman walks out. As she passes Jiraiya, who had turned to look when Naruto did, gives a short low wolf whistle and reaches to slap her ass.

He leers as the woman freezes in her tracks, turning to look at him with a glare. Jiraiya winks at the Chunin like they've shared some fun inside joke and then turns his attention back to Naruto as if nothing has happened.

Naruto stares.

The Chuunin's spine is rigid. She's clearly uncomfortable and angry, but she doesn't punch Jiraiya in the throat like Naruto expects, like he hopes. She just turns stiffly away and continues on, shoulders slumping as she gets farther away from them.

Visions of a purple flyer and Sakura's furious eyes swim in Naruto's vision. He feels a bubble of magma hot rage low in his belly, fizzling at the edges of the seal there like flames at the edges of a paper bomb.

"Normally I'd be all for anger." Kurama's tightly worried voice comes, "but right now, with this specific audience it is the _worst possible idea_."

"You saw what he did!" Naruto snarls back, "we can't just stand here after everything Sakura told us!"

"You're right," it feels like Kurama is pacing, his anxiety mixing with Naruto's anger to create a volatile mix of negative energy, "we won't just stand here! We are going to run the _fuck_ _away_ because if this lumbering, perverted toad bastard realizes what's going on with you Kit, he's going to hold you down, tear your seal off and try to rebuild it from scratch and honestly? He may be good but I'm pretty sure that process would kill you and me both."

Naruto isn't really listening anymore. He can only see the retreating back of the Chuunin. His vision swims again for a moment, the spiking pain of the seal making his head fuzzy, and for a moment, he swears the Chuunin has pink hair.

He takes a step forward, clawed fingers digging into his palms.

"Naruto!" Kurama's roar feels like it shakes his very bones. "Run now and live to break his sorry neck another day!" The fox snarls. "Think of this as shielding and information gathering practice! Escape this enemy and get the report back to Wolf!"

For some reason that works. Putting this in the parameters of a mission allows him to grab a hold of the spiral of rage and control it at least a little.  
The dizziness clears from Naruto's head and the pain in the seal ebbs to breathable levels.

He's about to just turn and bolt when he feels a spike of annoyance/fear/exasperation from Kurama and the foxes voice pours from between his teeth "Nice meeting you Sanin-San. I've gotta meet up with my team soon. Bye!"

Jiraiya gives a shocked look at the rumbling baritone emerging from the 13 year old in front of him.

Kurama continues, the emotions taking on the slightest flavor of mean spirited mischief, "Cough! Sorry! Toad in my throat!"

And then he lets Naruto turn and flee back towards the Hatake compound.

The Jinchuriki is fairly certain that his laughter can be heard by the Sanin standing behind him staring at his retreating back in disbelief but honestly, he doesn't care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was almost approximately another 5000 words longer but my dear darling editor held my face softly between their hands and threatened to feed me to a shark if I made them go through 8000+ words correcting the plethora of grammatical creativities that I tend to employ. 
> 
> Anyway, we've got some new perspectives in this one! On one hand, writing in Naruto's voice brings me endless joy and on the other, Sasuke makes me wanna break my keyboard. Love them both, don't get me wrong but _damn_ does Sasuke's voice give me hell. As was the case for Kakashi, I hope I managed to stay enough in character for everyone's tastes. 
> 
> As far as new characters go, you know it really says something about Jiraiya that I barely had to change anything about his character introduction to make him fit into the conversation about sexism in the Hidden Leaf. Motherfucker :) 
> 
> Next, not Friday but perhaps Tuesday-ish (yes that's right folks it's a DOUBLE UPDATE) you can expect Kakashi-needs-a-nap, Naruto-needs-to-lie-down, Sakura-needs-her-friends-to-chill-out, and Sasuke-needs-to-be-allowed-to-break-something. 
> 
> Thanks as always for reading and I'm so excited to read y'alls thoughts!! (special shout out to HighClassGrandma, Sarella_Sand, Munchin_Munchkin, and shelledbee for always leaving such thoughtful commentary <3)


	5. When Morning Comes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It hurts to see you in so much pain and I would've stayed there forever, but it didn't work out that way. So hang on, hang on, when morning comes you won't be here alone.  
> \- Hang on, Hang on, Amos Lee
> 
> edited by loverinstinct (truly I owe them my life)

Kakashi thinks he's been handling things well these past couple weeks, all things considered.

He managed to be more or less comforting and supportive when Sakura went to the Office of Domestic Affairs and officially applied as an independent ninja. He had kept his cool when she was stopped by an Anbu with questions about her Father's broken arm.

He'd managed to come across as only slightly rattled when Naruto informed him that he'd bumped into one of the damned Sanin, Minato's Sensei no less, and furthermore had nearly attacked him in the middle of a crowded street.

Kakashi didn't even lose his shit when the damned Kyuubi kept cutting into Naruto's recounting of that encounter with helpful little clarifications and details like a personal assistant of some kind.

A murderous, hate filled, demonic, ten story-tall personal assistant. 

He's been doing _great_ , okay?

He even slept for a few hours yesterday.

No wait, the day before that.

The silver haired Jonin swipes a tired hand over his eye and tries not to grimace too noticeably as he watches Naruto and Sasuke sparring on the lawn.  
It's saying something that _Sasuke_ is the one causing him the least amount of stress right now. 

The teenager has been sticking to what Kakashi asked of him more or less, light physical activity and meditation throughout the day and then sparring and team building exercises with Sakura and Naruto in the evenings. The inactivity does seem to have kept the curse mark from spreading too much further, which is good to say the least.

He's really holding onto the good right now where he can.

They only have five days till the deadline he's set for breaking Sasuke's curse mark and only thirteen days till the day they plan to leave the village.

So really, he has to look at the positive.

Sakura's separation from her parents means she has nothing to keep her away from training and so her stamina has improved markedly in the almost two weeks she's been following the regimen he set for her. Naruto's chakra control and shielding is much better too. Kakashi is pointedly ignoring that the Fox has been helping with that. It's been having his Genin practice by playing a rather one sided game of hide and seek with Jiraiya. 

Kakashi would be more upset about that if it wasn't clearly working. 

Things are…fine. Possibly in the way that a teetering house of cards in a windstorm is fine but he's ignoring that. 

It's not like he can do anything to fix it anyway. All he can control is making sure the kids are safe and doing what they are supposed to be and that the preparations to leave are going forward.

Gods he wants a _nap_.

Sasuke flips over Naruto's head, delivering a swift kick to the Jinchuriki's forehead. He lands, a frown twisting his face. 

"Focus Dobe."

Kakashi dials back into what's going on around him.

Naruto shakes Sasuke's hit off like a dog shaking off water droplets.

Sitting off to the side and getting her breath back before her turn, Sakura is looking on with a note of worry on her face. 

"Naruto are you okay? You're moving slower than normal."

"Just fine!" The blonde chirps at his teammate, brow beaded with sweat and tan skin slightly paler than normal.

Kakashi narrows his eyes.

"Again! And stop making this so easy for me," huffs Sasuke before charging. 

The two exchange blows, rapid fire but smooth. Kakashi carefully catalogs weaknesses and strengths. He makes a mental note to add more hamstring stretches to Sasuke's morning regimen, another to praise Naruto for his growing flexibility. 

Then, a hitch in Naruto's steps. 

It's barely noticeable and Kakashi would have let it slide as human error but then it happens again, the Jinchuriki's foot sliding a hair too far to the side.  
His face contorts in a sudden stricken rush and he sways slightly, guard dropping on the right. Sasuke takes the easy opening and delivers a swift chop to his teammates neck. Naruto stumbles to the side coughing. It wasn't enough of a strike to actually injure but even a gentle blow to the windpipe feels less than great. 

Sasuke is staring, not gloating or even glaring like he normally would.

Kakashi pushes to his feet, thoughts abuzz.

That was more than sloppiness. Sparring is not only one of the areas where Naruto excels but it's also one he's always seemed to genuinely enjoy. In all his time as the boy's Sensei, he's never seen such a rookie mistake from him.

Something is wrong.

"Naruto?" Sasuke finds his voice as Kakashi steps towards them.

"Hey Sasuke?" the blonde replies, a small awkward smile crossing his pale face, "don't freak out okay?"

And then the Jinchuriki promptly collapses on the ground like his strings have been cut.

Hound leaps to the forefront of Kakashi's mind before he's even fully processed what's happened.

"Sasuke, perimeter," he barks out, dashing forward and drops onto the ground next to his unmoving Genin.

Sasuke doesn't move, his eyes suddenly scarlet and slowly spinning with the Sharingan as he stares at Naruto's crumpled form.

"Now!" Roars Hound because damn the boy’s bleeding heart, if they are under attack he needs to know _right now_.

The Uchiha snarls back at him but does as ordered, ripping his gaze away from Naruto's prone form to leap away and do a rapid circuit of the grounds and wards. Sakura crashes to her knees on the ground next to him as Kakashi refocuses on his fallen student. Her pale eyes fly over Naruto's body, searching for injury. There are no visible wounds but the boy is shaking slightly and sweat beads at his temples. Kakashi places a careful hand on his brow and then immediately yanks it away. His skin is boiling, nearly hot enough to burn. 

"Poison?" Asks Sakura.

"Possibly," is Hound's response but his gut is saying something different.

Following a hunch he reaches forward and carefully rolls up the base of Naruto's shirt.

The Eight Trigrams seal looks like it's been set on fire. Angry red lines pulse and race with internal light, in some areas guttering like a dying candle and in others flaring unnaturally bright. 

"Fuck." Hisses Kakashi.

Sakura stares in horrified fascination at the gruesome light show emanating from her friend's core. 

Kakashi doesn't waste such time.

Reaching into his belt pouch he yanks out a handful of pieces of paper. Each is inscribed with the black curving lines of intricate seals. He had spent an entire painstaking night copying them down from one of the old Fūinjutsu tomes in the archives and even then he only has three of them to show for it. The seals are designed to drain and slowly release excess chakra. He'd been carrying them for nearly a week now, intending them for use on Sasuke if something went wrong with the curse mark.

He can only depend on his very, very bad luck that the same logic will work with the Eight Trigrams Seal.

He slaps the seal against Naruto's side, takes a moment to make sure it doesn't overlap with the seal on his stomach and then activates it with a flare of chakra. 

There is a flash of cool blue light and a smell like lightning and mud.

For a second, two seconds, Kakashi is terrified it didn't work. 

Then the agitated red light of the Kyuubi's seal starts to fade and Naruto's trembling subsides. Sasuke lands beside them silently, expression still wild but growing calmer as he looks over Naruto.

"He's okay?" The black-haired Genin asks rigidly.

"Well I wouldn't say okay but he's not in danger anymore. I think." Kakashi should, as per usual, probably try and sound a little more assured but he's too busy staring in concern at the way that Naruto's fading seal seems warped at the edges, twisted like wet ink left out in the rain.

"How long till he wakes up?" Sakura asks, still crouched over Naruto like a worried mother hen.

Kakashi is about to say that he has no idea when the boy in question rockets upwards.

Kakashi ducks backward just in time to avoid a broken nose as the blonde twists his head wildly from side to side. 

"What happened?!" Naruto exclaims.

Team Seven stares at him. 

Kakashi feels the most infuriating sense of deja vu as he carefully asks, "What do you remember?"

Naruto taps a finger on his chin. 

"I was sparring with Sasuke and started getting dizzy again…"

"Again?!" Growls Sasuke. Kakashi thinks the raven-haired boy makes a fair point but Naruto ignores him.

"Then Kurama suddenly got really, really big and angry in the seal and I think Sasuke hit me in the neck? Yeah, that's all I remember." 

"The Fox got big and angry?" Kakashi narrows his eyes. "It was trying to break the seal?" 

He knew the whole benevolent prisoner, lesser-of-two-evils story that the Fox has been spinning was too good to be true.

"No, that's not it." Naruto rises to the defense of his passenger without the usual ire Kakashi's hatred for it would normally entreat. Instead, his face is distant and considering. 

"Something….happened I think. Something bad. It was like I heard him scream in pain and rage and then everything got super intense and terrible and now he's like…" He pauses, perhaps trying to find the words to explain, "now he's just curled up and quiet and…sad." 

The blonde Jinchuriki looks up at Kakashi, eyes suddenly filling with tears, "I think he lost someone Kakashi Sensei. I think someone is gone."

The boy bursts into sobs and throws himself into Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi catches him on instinct, having grown all too familiar with having an armful of crying teenager in the past two weeks. The smell of Naruto's pain, deep and echoing, is clear to Kakashi's sharp nose and underneath it is the smell of the Kyuubi.

Kakashi has noticed the Kyuubi before, the way it's chakra’s presence is marked by the smell of brimstone and stormwind and fox but this time is different from every other time that he has sensed it. The scent of fiery anger is still strong but more than anything, the fox smells sharply of pain. 

It is as if the world is falling down around its ears, like its legs have been snapped in a hunters trap.

Like he's lost something precious, murmurs Kakashi's traitorous mind.

Deciding that now is not the time to try and parse through the fact that he is smelling the Kyuubi no Kitsune's emotions and apparently those emotions are more than just rage and hatred, Kakashi scoops Naruto into his arms and stands.

Sasuke who has been staring helplessly at Naruto's distress leaps to his feet as well, eyes free of the Sharingan again but no less focused or intent for it.

"Who could hurt the Kyuubi like that?" comes Sakura's voice, full of trepidation from where she is still crouched on the ground.

It's a valuable question. But not one they really have time to work through right now.

"That's a problem for tomorrow us!" Kakashi says with false cheer. Then, "let's go back to the house. It looks like it's going to rain soon anyway."

The kids nod and Sasuke reaches absentmindedly to pull Sakura to her feet, eyes still locked on Naruto.

Kakashi is the only one to see the quick look of surprise and then jubilation that flashes across Sakura's face.

The Jonin lets a small private smile pull at his own mouth from behind the mask. 

A few steps back maybe, but still at least one forward.

~  
The four of them get settled in the den just before the rain breaks. 

It's not the most comfortable of areas, the Hatakes had always prioritized function over that, but the couches are clean and a pitcher of tea courtesy of their anxious Uchiha has the place feeling a little brighter. 

Naruto has calmed down some. A cup of criminally sweet matcha is steaming between his fingers and the dark blue blanket from Kakashi's bed is pulled around his shoulders. He still looks like someone tried to cut his heart out with a rusty spoon but he isn’t crying anymore. 

With less surprise than it once would have caused, Kakashi watches him curl up next to Sakura, blonde head leaning against her strong shoulders. The Pinkette simply smiles gently at him and scooches to the side to make more room for him against the couch. Further telling of how far the kids have come in only a couple weeks is the fact that Sasuke doesn't pull a face at the blatant affection between his two teammates, only perches on the back of the couch they are leaning against like a nervous falcon.

Kakashi's tired heart flares as the Genin all turn to him, eyes nervous but focused.

Right.

"Well I suppose it's time for our weekly 'What's Wrong With Naruto Now' meeting," Kakashi offers with a theatrical sigh as he settles cross-legged onto the ground in front of them.

Sakura laughs, loud and bright as Naruto jerks up from her shoulder with an affronted "Hey!"

Sasuke grumbles at the blonde, "He's right, idiot. Two weeks ago it was Kurama popping up to scare us shitless and then it was that Jiraiya fucker and now it's this."

Naruto pouts. "It's not my fault I ran into the Pervy Toad."

"Is it your fault for letting Kurama talk to him, laughing at him and then promptly running away," Sakura tells him pointedly.

"Well yeah but-"

Kakashi cuts them off before they can devolve into a full blown, Team Seven Special, catfight.

"Naruto, were you aware that something was wrong with your seal." 

The boy looks sheepish.

"Kinda? I've been feeling shitty all week but I didn't think it was a big deal."

Kakashi resists dragging his hands down his face like a particularly overwhelmed mother. Barely.

"In the future, please keep us in the loop when the extremely delicate, highly volatile, already unstable seal on your person starts acting up?"

Naruto slips quickly from abashed to deeply guilty, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy.

Kakashi gets twin glares from Sasuke and Sakura.

Kakashi gives his students a pointed stare back and then jabs a finger out the door to where Naruto had collapsed on the ground less than an hour ago in a very clear reminder of the fact that _he wasn't the bad guy here_. 

Sakura at least has the decency to quell the look, but Sasuke just keeps glaring.

Kakashi doesn't manage to hold back a sigh this time.

Naruto looks up at the sound. 

"I… didn't realize the seal was so breakable honestly? I kinda thought that there wasn't anything I could do to mess it up that bad? And that was like...the point?" 

Kakashi tsks and leans back on his hands. It's a fair confusion on the boy’s part. Seals, if done right, shouldn't crack and fail like Naruto's.

However, seals have also only been attempting to contain Tailed Beasts for about 3 generations and on top of that Naruto's seal was applied in the heat of battle and then put under terrific strain for the boy’s entire life. The Kyuubi had already warned them as much, but it's no wonder that there are now complications emerging.

"Why is his seal getting all twisted like that?" asks Sakura, likely remembering the distorted edges of the seal just like Kakashi. 

Recalling what the Kyuubi told them about the Airokku and the failing seal, Kakashi taps his chin and speaks. 

"I'm no Fūinjutsu Master but from what I understand seals are built like towers of blocks. Each part stabilizes another and keeps it secure and steady. So if one major part of your seal is failing the rest could be in danger of collapse as well." 

"Which would be… bad," guesses Naruto.

"Considering your seal is linked directly into your chakra system and is anchored in at least 8 major chakra Coils, it's failure would most likely kill you," Kakashi informs him blandly. 

"And hurt Kurama," Sakura adds quietly. 

Kakashi almost flinches at the sound of another of his Genin calling the Fox by name but he keeps control of his features.

"I don't understand what a lot of that means." Naruto pulls the blanket tighter around him, fingers white on the soft material. 

"It'd be really bad, Dobe," Sasuke grumbles at him.

The Uchiha is trying to play it cool but Kakashi can see the way the boy’s eyes keep flicking to Naruto, his hands mimicking the other boy’s in their useless tension. 

"Well," Kakashi runs a tired hand down his face, "there isn't a lot we can do about it now. We have enough on our plate so for now we'll just have to manage the chakra decay and watch for symptoms of Coil Burn." 

"What are the symptoms of those specifically?" Asks Sakura, looking for all the world like she wishes she had a notepad so she could jot the information down and cross reference it later. 

Kakashi raises an eyebrow. 

Low and behold, a teaching moment.

"You should have learned about the various diseases and conditions that can affect the chakra system at the academy. You don't remember?"

"I mean,” Sakura shrugs apologetically, “I saw myself that Naruto was experiencing dizziness, fever, and muscle weakness but I wouldn't be able to name any other symptoms. Honestly, I was terrible at that section in our book. I preferred the Kunai Flight Path calculations." 

Naruto points a finger at his chest and rolls his eyes as if to say "it's me, what do you think."

Sasuke however, to Kakashi's great surprise, cuts in.

"Chakra decay is a condition in which a person's chakra pathways begin to deteriorate, allowing for unfiltered chakra to leak into the rest of the body. Symptoms include nausea, dizziness, temperature fluctuations, chakra exhaustion, disruption of normal appetite, elemental deterioration depending on the Ninja's chakra nature and many other issues." 

Kakashi has to stifle a grin as Sakura and Naruto crane their heads around to stare at Sasuke in shock. The boy continues without realizing the bafflement of his audience.

"Coil Burn is caused when too much pressure is put on one or several of the chakra Coils and they slow or fail completely. Symptoms include chakra saturation, chakra blockages, major organ failure, and death."

Sasuke finishes to find most of his team staring at him in utter shock. 

The boy's face goes bright red at the scrutiny and he snaps defensively, "What?! I hated the unit on medical jutsu and stuff less than some of the other shit we had to listen to at the academy, okay?" 

"I mean...it was interesting enough but not compared to the sections on the Seven laws of subterfuge or battle tactics or Fūinjutsu," Sakura pushes back hesitantly.

"Please," Sasuke rolls his eyes, " you can't teach tactics in a book, and the seven laws are outdated and overhyped."

Sakura leans forward with annoyance, her brow crinkling but her eyes shining underneath. 

"Says you! Tactics taught us how not to think when trying to outmaneuver an enemy, which is just as valuable as knowing the right answers, and manipulation is the most crucial skill in a ninja's weapons belt." 

"You don't have to worry about manipulating anyone if you've severed their carotid artery with a chakra coated scalpel," smirks Sasuke.

Sakura is opening her mouth to argue further, face growing pink to match her hair, when Naruto, with a confused twist to his mouth, groans, "Man, you both sound like nerds. Why did I ever think you guys were cool?" 

The three Genin stare at each other and for a breath Kakashi is a little worried he's going to have to break up a dogpile but then a giggle escapes from Sakura and Naruto grins with his too-sharp teeth, still a little weak but there, and Sasuke mumbles "idiot" and leans to tap his fist against Naruto's shoulder.

Kakashi breathes, long and slow.

When did he become such a den mother?

As their mirth settles, Sakura asks "Naruto, how is Kurama doing now?"

The Jinchuriki's smile dies.

"He's still not talking. I've never seen him pull this far back into the seal before."

"Was your fainting spell cause he's upset?" Sasuke wonders.

"Oy teme!" Naruto twists again to snap, "don't call it that! I just needed to lay down for a second okay?"

"And have muscle convulsions and spontaneously run a massive fever? Right." The raven-haired boy snarks back at him.

Naruto is pushing to stand, some insult already on his lips when Sakura locks a hand around his wrist and yanks him down next to her.

"Sit dummy. He's just worried because you're his favorite," she tells him conspiratorially. 

" _Sakura_!" Sasuke hisses, what looks suspiciously like a blush darkening his pale cheeks.

Naruto appears surprised at this revelation and the desire Kakashi has for a nap returns with three times the strength. 

Why did he decide to partake in high-stakes political subterfuge with three preteens again? 

Either unaware or unconcerned with the disruption she's caused, Sakura taps a chipped nail against her lip thoughtfully."So the seal reacted badly to whatever upset Kurama and disrupted the flow of Naruto's chakra?"

Thank the gods for _one_ more or less level headed kid out of the bunch Kakashi thinks. 

He nods then clarifies, "I think most likely it didn't impact the flow itself, but the Kyuubi's strong emotions put pressure on the seal and the reverberations of that through the seal's anchors in Naruto's system caused a spike in the decay it's already causing." 

"Soooooo?" Naruto looks a little miserable in his confusion.

"So it just means we have to hope the Fox gets over whatever fit it's-"

Naruto glares.

"He's having," Kakashi corrects himself. Probably better to avoid an argument right now. "And that we'll need to keep more of the chakra suppressor seals on hand." 

"Sensei I could help you make more! I've always been interested in Fūinjutsu!" Sakura offers brightly.

Kakashi really, _really_ wishes she could but, "they are a bit too complicated for that unfortunately Sakura. One tiny mistake on one seal could severely damage Naruto's chakra network or blow up in our face the moment we try to activate it." 

Sakura wilts.

Now it's Sasuke and Naruto's turn to glare at him apparently. 

Kakashi almost thinks he preferred when the kids were snapping at each other like territorial puppies.

"We need to focus on Sasuke's curse mark right now anyway," he reminds them pointedly. "In a little less than a week I am going to be removing it and we still need to collect some critical pieces to do that right."

The redirection, as real as it is, seems to have worked as all three pups perk up and start listening again.

"Sakura, Naruto, you two will swing down to the Apothecary tomorrow and grab some of the sedative we need okay? Be quiet about it as much as you are able because it will raise suspicions if anyone hears we are trying to remove the curse mark without assistance."

Naruto shoots Kakashi a thumbs up and a grin promising, "We'll be so lowkey no one will even know we're there Sensei!“ He promises. “We'll be like the stealthiest Anbu! Like…straight up invisible!" 

Kakashi stares at the boy mournfully, he's just jinxed what should be an easy little errand he can _feel it_. 

"Not me Sensei?" Sasuke asks and Kakashi can tell that the boy is trying not to pout. He's been cooped up for two weeks and, despite hiding it well, is going a bit stir crazy.

As the last bastion of what has come to pass as normal these two weeks, the Uchiha is going to have to stay stir crazy a little longer for his Sensei's sake. 

"No Sasuke," Kakashi says brightly, running a mental tally on how many straws remain before the backbone of his sanity breaks, "you are going to stay here and make sure that nothing world ending happens while I take a fucking nap." 

13 days and counting.

If Kakashi can catch at least 3 hours of shut eye and no more serious issues arise, he's beginning to think they can pull it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaaahhhh sorry Kakashi, despite how much you deserve things going your way for once, a failing seal, especially one as complex as the Eight Trigrams is not gonna come without a _few minor_ issues.
> 
> This chapter definitely fought me a little but I hope y'all still like it! :)
> 
> We're starting to get into the part of the fic where you'll be seeing some more overt hints about the direction I intend to take Team 7s individual skillsets. There have been some really great guesses from you lovely folks so far (of which I read every single one and scream into a pillow over, literally) and I'm excited to see what direction those predictions take after y'all read this chapter. 
> 
> This coming Friday (yes lads, it is still a double update week) you can expect two new POVs, more of Sakura being badass, Kurama being a jackass, and Naruto being a loveable dumbass.


	6. Show Me How To Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Show me how to lie you're getting better all the time. Turning it all against one is an art that's hard to teach.  
> -You’re Gonna Go Far Kid, The Offspring

Sakura has a bad feeling about what her afternoon will hold the moment she and Naruto step foot into the Konoha Apothecary. 

Normally she adores the small store tucked into a back alley of the Merchant District. It's one of the oldest shops in the entirety of Konoha and is absolutely filled to the brim with shelves of trailing greenery, strange and brightly colored flowers, and jars that glitter in the light that pours in through the skylights cut into the roof. The air in the Apothecary always smells verdant and cleaner than the rest of Konoha. The retired Kunoichi that works behind the counter is quick with a smile or tip about plants.

Today, it does little to lift Sakura's dragging feet or ease the tingling worry at the back of her neck. 

She’s tired and sore and even though the sun is only just beginning to rise over the tiled roofs, she’s already been awake for nearly 4 hours. 

Kakashi’s workout regimen for her is brutal. She wakes up most mornings feeling like she's been put through a meat grinder and is still expected to get up and push even harder than she did the day before. It's torture, but she's starting to see a difference. Her shoulders are stronger and her steps more steady. Unlike the first week when she couldn't even make it all the way around Konoha without needing to rest, now most mornings she's managing nearly three laps at a decent pace. 

Things are getting better with the boys too. She watches Naruto push open the door to the Apothecary without pausing the rambling story he's been telling her since they left the Hatake Compound nearly twenty minutes ago. She smiles to herself. A few weeks ago she would have probably hit him to shut him up about nineteen minutes ago, but now she finds herself relaxing a bit to the sound of his cheerful voice. 

Things with Sasuke are still...awkward.

She shouldn't expect them to be best friends right away after the way she treated him but it's still discouraging to see those moments where he regards her with suspicion more than comradery. 

She knows that her crush on the other boy is completely over. Hearing from the mouth of one of the Legendary Sanin that Sakura's worship of him was just a byproduct of a village-wide manipulation tactic designed to isolate him had cast things in a new light, to say the least.

But she doesn't think Sasuke really believes that yet.

There are some bright spots though. Yesterday for example when he had helped her up after Naruto's fit and when he burned the Kunoichi pamphlet. Their promise.

She has to hold on to the good moments like that. 

Even if they still aren't a perfect team, even if the boys still don't trust her and are waiting for her to revert to the vapid, cruel, weak version of herself that she wore like a carnival mask for nearly the entire time she knew them, she knows they will get better.

Because she won’t ever put that mask on again.

She can’t really prove that to them outside of her actions day by day but she knows with the same certainty with which she cut her hair in the Forest of Death and with which she promised to protect them both, she can never go back to the wilting, half-alive girl she had been. 

Besides, even if the three of them are still cautious of each other, are still not really sure how they fit together, Sakura is beginning to see the shape they’ll take. She thinks Kakashi might see it too, the way that when they get over the stumbling blocks of their messy histories, they flow together like a perfect melody. 

She is growing more sure with every passing day that if they can survive what comes next, they’ll need her as much as she’s growing to need them, maybe more. 

Naruto interrupts her introspections as he skips ahead of her down the central aisle of the Apothecary, commenting loudly and constantly about the interesting things on the shelves. Sakura smiles at his enthusiasm. It’s refreshing to see after the sober cloud that followed him all of yesterday. Apparently Kurama hasn’t really returned to normal yet but he’s at least moving around again in whatever space he occupies inside Naruto’s form. As far as she knows, he still hasn't told Naruto exactly what happened to make him withdraw so much. When they asked about it Naruto had frowned and reiterated the sense of gone-ness, of empty space, but hadn't actually been able to clarify much more than that

She rolls her shoulders, working out a knot of soreness she somehow hasn’t noticed till now and then calls out to Naruto. 

"Go look for what Sensei wanted. I'm going to check out some herbs over here." 

There is a shout of what is probably assent and then the sound of something crashing to the ground.

Sakura winces and turns to the shelf she's near. She may be growing to cherish Naruto as a friend but she won't fight all his battles for him, especially against Old Lady Midori who is sweet but was also probably in Anbu before she owned this shop. 

The bell above the door gives a cheery jingle as someone else steps into the store.

She doesn't bother looking up.

“Ah, it’s you,” comes a bored sounding baritone from her left. Sakura stiffens instantly.

Her thoughts leap from amusement over Naruto to rapid fire calculations interspersed with curse words as Shikamaru Naru considers her with a blasé look on his face. The high pitched laugh and warm chakra that precludes the arrival of the other two members of Team 10 barely registers.

Of all of the Rookie Nine to run into, Team 10 is probably the worst for keeping their plans under wraps if solely for the teenage boy that stands next to her now, head cocked slightly to the side as he studies her. 

Sakura doesn’t let panic delay her reactions even a moment longer, she can’t afford to. She turns and smiles benignly at the Nara genius who stands with his hands in his pockets.

He's looking at her like a leaf that’s fallen on his shogi board.

“Better a leaf than the player across from him,” Sakura tells herself to quell the instant flash of annoyance at being so clearly and completely underestimated. 

“Hello Shikamaru, Ino, Choji.” She greets cooly as the other two members of Team 10 step into the store.

Ino, with a new thin, silvery scar tracing along her jaw catching the light, goes from grinning at her teammate to stony in an instant. 

I did that, thinks Sakura, looking at the scar, guilty at the flare of warmth the thought brings. Ino was once her best friend, the most important person in the world to her. What does it say about Sakura that she feels a tug of pride at the mark she's left on the other girl?

No time to focus on that now.

“Sakura,” Ino says with a sneer. “Haven’t seen you around the village much. I thought Sasuke must have finally gotten tired of your pathetic attempts at wooing him and wrung your scrawny little neck.”

Sakura shrugs and doesn't take the bait even though it once would have had her steaming.

“Just training at the Hatake compound for the Chuunin Finals. I’m sure Asuma Sensei has you all busy as well.” 

Ino seems to get even angrier at her bland tone if that’s possible. Thankfully, Shikamaru has turned to look dully through one of the nearby windows at the clouds drifting by outside, seemingly uninterested in the bickering.

"Shikamaru is doing most of the training," Choji offers with a friendly smile. "Ino and I aren't in the finals so we are cheering him on while he gets ready." 

The Genin in question is still completely checked out of the conversation. Good, the less attention he’s paying to her the better. As long as she can keep anything from piquing his interest then this little meetup shouldn’t even be a bump in the road.

Naruto appears around a corner, his naturally loud voice ringing through the little shop, “Sakura! Granny Midori helped me find the Valerian!”

Shikamaru turns from the window, dark eyes locking on the blonde Jinchuriki immediately.

Sakura nearly curses aloud.

She slams her emotions behind a stone wall as the Nara genius flicks his gaze to her.

She's glad she's learned from the best when it comes to masking one's emotions because the fastest way to turn this from a problem into a game-ender is to act guilty.

Naruto has shuffled to a stop next to her and picking up on her tension is glaring at the group of teens blocking their path to the door.

“Valerian Root? Ino does your family grow that one in your greenhouse?” Shikimaru wonders, still sounding bored.

Sakura isn’t fooled. That was an opening move. 

It's going to force her into a defensive position because both Shikamaru and Sakura absolutely know that-

“No…” Ino is saying thoughtfully “It’s a controlled herb. I believe it’s used as-” 

“A sedative,” Sakura cuts her off with an embarrassed smile, “but please don’t mention to anyone that we were here picking some up.”

Yes, I'm uncomfortable and guilty about this interaction, but not for any interesting reason she channels with all her might.

“What would you want with a sedative Billboard Brow?” Asks Ino with a mean smile. “That’s a really shitty way to get into Sasuke’s pants you know.”

At this, Naruto’s eyes go from slightly aggressive to scalding.

Sakura can feel the beginning flickers of familiar energy as the seal flexes and bends under the flow of Naruto’s spiking emotions. Sakura wonders if this is how Kakashi feels on a daily basis as things begin to spin rapidly out of her control. 

“Don’t fucking talk about him like that, and leave Sakura alone,” the boy growls, taking one threatening step towards Ino.

The young Kunoichi rolls her eyes in his direction, like it takes effort to even acknowledge that he’s trying to threaten her. Ino's survival instincts have never been the sharpest, Sakura thinks distantly.

The other girl’s attention sharpens when she notices Naruto's face. 

Sakura knows that Shikamaru clocked the change the second Naruto rounded the corner. 

“The color contacts are a new look Naruto,” Ino coos meanly, “a replacement for the tacky orange get up?” 

Naruto's chakra flexes again, grows more unsteady. 

Shit, shit, shit, shit chants Sakura mentally, watching as Shikamaru's eyes narrow at her blonde teammate. 

She has to find a way to diffuse the reactive chakra pouring from Naruto. 

“The Valerian is for me,” she cuts in, trying to change the subject. “I’ve-” she pauses like she’s struggling to get it out “been having some trouble sleeping.”

At the same time Sakura reaches, carefully, stealthily, and places a hand against Naruto's wrist. She can feel the thrum of turbulent energy racing under his skin there.   
Take the bait Ino, Sakura begs in her mind as she focuses her attention on the chakra escaping Naruto's control. 

The blonde Kunoichi-in-training jumps on the crumb that Sakura’s dropped like a hungry crow.

“Feeling a little nervous about the finals, Haruno? 

Sakura glares at her, popping one hand on her hip and forcing a flush onto her cheeks even as her other hand remains surreptitiously against Naruto's wrist.  
“Nothing for you to worry about, Ino Pig, but yes. Kakashi Sensei said pre-exam stress is very normal!”

Sakura is barely focusing on the verbal sparring. She can feel the racing bubbling energy that is so uniquely Fox/Naruto. It's flavored like ash and hot summer days and blood and protective rage. She tugs at it, channeling the escaping steam of power into her own skin. She uses her own chakra to begin smoothing the sharp edges.

She nearly flinches at the immediate, overwhelming burn of it.

"Awww, poor wittle Billboard Brow," Ino sing-songs, leaning into her space and promoting another growl from Naruto. Another spike in his energy. "Having nightmares about how stupid you'll look eating shit in front of the whole village?" 

No, my worries are more along the lines of being captured and tortured by Anbu for treason, or Sensei messing up when he's removing the curse mark and killing Sasuke, or Naruto's seal disintegrating further, or being the reason we get caught when we leave the Leaf because I'm still too damn weak, or your fucking teammate being too smart for his own good and unraveling the whole thing before we even have a chance to try, Sakura thinks.

Out loud she just huffs and looks away, risking a quick glance at Shikamaru. 

He's not watching Naruto anymore, instead, his eyes have focused on her.

A shiver trails down Sakura's spine. She's never had the full genius of the Konoha Twelve's most impressive Genin focused on her before. It's equal parts unsettling and exhilarating. 

Not a player, not a player, she chants in her mind, hoping with all her might that she's still the leaf on his board and not something worth devoting that terrifying intellect towards. 

Some part of her wants to be a player though, wants the thrill of weighing her intellect against the other teenager. 

She won't gamble with her team's lives like that though.

Once again focusing on the power she's acting as a conduit for, Sakura carefully channels the excess chakra from Naruto's anger and lets it flow through her system. It's a hundred times more difficult than she expected, like trying to do arithmetic while being mildly electrocuted. She has to smooth over and balance the sharp fluctuating edges of the energy while keeping her own chakra from spinning out of control. She remembers Kakashi's voice from months ago when they were tree climbing in Wave, the surprised, impressed smile as he complimented her natural control. She uses that to fuel her and even as the unstable chakra burns at her she carefully redirects and neutralizes it.

It seems to be working, the overflow is becoming less obvious and Naruto's agitation seems to be decreasing. 

The boy stiffens suddenly, his chakra flow becoming disrupted again and Sakura prays to every god she knows that it's just because the boy needs to sneeze and not because-

The shop bell jingles again.

She hates that fucking bell.

Gaara of the Sand, apparent Jinchuriki of the One-tail according to what Naruto has told Team 7, steps into the shop. His strange pupil-less eyes search around the space before finally landing on Naruto. 

It's a right party in the Apothecary today, Sakura thinks, stress ratcheting up several more notches. 

Team 10 shifts, unsubtly moving into defensive stances as the eerie teen drifts further into the store.

Naruto and Gaara are….staring at each other.

"You really hurt Lee," Naruto says eventually, less anger in his voice and chakra than Sakura expects. In general, her teammate feels calmer than she would have guessed he would be when faced with the unstable Jinchuriki of the Sand. Naruto cocks his head suddenly, crimson gaze brightening in a way she's seen before as he considers the other boy. 

Sakura's hand on his wrist suddenly burns as a deluge of chakra rushes to the surface of Naruto's skin. 

_Kurama_ , she thinks.

Gaara still hasn't responded to the comment aloud but as his gaze remains locked with Naruto's, his brow furrows tightly and he twitches almost like a fly has landed on him and he's shaking it off.

There are several long beats of silence. 

Naruto barks out a sudden laugh. It's sharp and rough and very obviously not his laugh.

Sakura is hit with the realization that not only is there an entire conversation happening here that she is not privy to, but she is well and truly out of her depth.   
Shikamaru seems to have come to the same conclusion because while his expression hasn't changed much from when he first stepped into the shop the look in his eyes is sharp and spinning with calculations. 

Naruto, no, Kurama, crosses his arms, smooth and controlled and a jagged smirk curls across his face. Gaara hisses at him, taking a threatening step forward.

"You best watch yourself," the Sand Genin finally speaks aloud. His voice, as Sakura remembers hearing it, had been dry and cold and unsettling like the desert at midnight.

This voice is completely different. It's even deeper than Kurama's and edged with maniac straining energy, like a kettle moments away from boiling over.

The tension inside the little shop expands as killing intent and chakra radiate from the two Jinchuriki. It's nowhere near the levels she knows the Fox can reach when truly agitated but with the addition of the sandpapery, hot-scraping-bloody feeling of what she assumes is the One-tail’s chakra, Sakura feels like crawling out of her skin. 

The Kyuubi's grin curls even further, "You really have lost touch with reality if you think you’re even close to a threat to me."

The energy of the seal flexes, even more, pronounced now. 

Sakura reaches out again, touching her teammates' arm and tries desperately to channel some of the overwhelming chakra away. It fucking _hurts_ though, like being set on fire. It's not worth the risk right now. 

Team 10 doesn't seem to be able to settle on where to look, gazes bouncing between the two Jinchuriki.

Ino has dropped into a battle stance, hand on the hilt of her Kunai and sweat beading at her temple. Choji too looks shaken, bright rosy cheeks gone ashen and fists shaking slightly as he clenches them. 

Shikamaru, on the other hand, seems nearly unaffected. He takes a lazy step back as if he were going to recline against the wall. His hand comes to rest almost casually on a glass jar of powdered Hogweed. Another piece moving on an increasingly high stakes board, Sakura thinks, eyes flicking to Shikamaru's falsely disinterested expression. Hogweed causes blindness so if things go sideways he's going to… 

It doesn't matter though, she knows how this would shake out if it came to blows even better than the tactical genius next to her does. So apparently, does Gaara and whoever is speaking through him. The Kyuubi cocks a daring eyebrow at the red haired boy and Gaara or his passenger perhaps, snarls at the expression but steps back.

The smug grin pulls back across Naruto's face.

"Glad to see you can still do basic arithmetic," Kurama says cruelly and Sakura understands instantly that he's talking about the power of the Nine-tails compared to the One-tail. She's grateful that Kurama has so effectively talked down the other tailed-beast but Shikamaru is still standing there, watching all of this with a dangerous spark of intrigue growing in his eyes. Sakura is becoming more concerned by the second that he's going to figure out more about what the implications of the confusing exchange means then their little insurgence can survive. 

She has to do something. 

As subtly as possible, Sakura reaches over and elbows Kurama sharply in the side.

She doesn't even know if the fox can feel things that are happening to Naruto's body, or if he can, if he'll choose to break her neck for the insult of _hitting him_ but she is running concerningly low on options at the moment. 

She resists the urge to look at Shikamaru, certain that calculating gaze will be back on her. 

"Naruto kun," she smiles sweetly, somehow managing to bury the pure adrenaline coursing under her skin, "we really need to be getting back to Kakashi Sensei and Sasuke. How about you talk with _Gaara_ some other time? When we have less that we need to get done?" 

It's all said innocently enough, unspecifically enough, but she shoots the Fox a reproachful look and hopes to the high heavens that the message gets across.

Not the time for this fight, not with this audience, not with just over a week till we run. 

The Nine-Tails tilts his head, raising a brow at her.

She glares back.

Come on you bastard, she thinks, I'm trying to save our skins here. 

"Sure, we can go. Lots to do and all that." Kurama says after a beat. Then, sending one last sharp toothed smile towards Gaara he says, "Hey Gaara, you should tell the voices in your head to start being useful for once. It tends to make life a little more interesting, I've recently discovered." The sarcastic lilt and meaning to his words are far more obvious than Sakura would like but at least he seems to be listening to her.

Plus her head is still attached to her shoulders so… small victories. 

Shikamaru cuts in.

"While you are here you should grab something for Naruto's cold too. His voice is sounding awfully...hoarse." 

His dark eyes meet her pale ones and in them is not quite an acknowledgement, but dangerous, damning, curiosity. Sakura knows that with the intellect powering it if that curiosity grows it's a death sentence for their secrets. A month ago she would have been delighted for Shikamaru to see her as someone who was worth recognizing, to notice that she's brilliant too. 

Now though...

Sakura smiles at him as vapidly and brightly as she can.

"We have something back at the compound, thank you for your concern Shikamaru." 

For the first time since he's entered the shop he grins. It reminds her a little of Kurama, fewer sharp teeth maybe, but no less dangerous. 

"Sure," he drawls. "Good luck on your preparations, Sakura." 

Sakura doesn't think he's ever said her name before this conversation.

She isn't sure how she feels about it now.

Grabbing Naruto's wrist and tugging she maneuvers them through the crowded apothecary and out the door. 

She can feel eyes on their backs. Between the four sets, she's fairly certain that the blood crazy, unstable Jinchuriki isn't the greatest threat to them at the moment either. 

~~

Shikamaru intently watches the pink head of hair duck out of the shop.

There is silence in the Apothecary except for the gentle tinkling sound made by the little bell above the door as it closes behind the two retreating members of Team 7.

Gaara of the Sand watches the exit as well, face twisted with uneasy anger.

He glances back at the still defensive Team 10 and then with a snarl, spins and ducks out the Apothecary too.

Shikamaru sets the jar of Hogweed down with a clink.

There is a beat of silence.

"That fucking _bitch_ ," snarls Ino, breaking the stillness. "It was like she was looking right through me!! After what she did too!" 

She's crying. Furious tears streaming down her pretty pale cheeks and dripping onto the collar of her shirt.

Choji, ever the good teammate, wraps one large arm around her shoulder and offers a gentle smile, though he still looks somewhat uneasily towards where Gaara exited. Both he and Shikamaru know that the...thing with Sakura has been a sore spot for Ino recently. She had waited for Sakura for hours in the hospital after their fight, absolutely certain that the Pinkette would come see her to trade barbs and promises just like old times.

The other girl had never shown though.

In fact, she and the other members of Team 7 had been all but ghosts for the past three weeks.

Shikamaru hadn't been particularly worried about it. Very few things that were considered topics of gossip among the ninja around him are ever worth focusing more than a twentieth of his attention on. 

Or so he had thought until bumping into the ghosts in question themselves. 

Shikamaru's thoughts whirl.

He'd almost missed it, a rarity for him to say the least, but over the years he has just gotten so used to filing away anything Sakura did as Uchiha Fangirl madness and nothing more. 

But, when he'd said hello to her just now, she had frozen.

There should be no reason for Sakura to be anxious about running into him. Bitchy and annoyed perhaps, they've never gotten along after all, but that hadn't been her reaction at all.

She had looked for all the world like a little kid caught with their hand in the candy jar.

He had first thought that she was distressed about seeing Ino, who usually tailed along after him like a particularly annoying little dog. That would have made sense. Anxiety over bumping into an old flame, cough, excuse him, _friend_ , was common and boring.

But it wasn't about Ino at all. His still sobbing teammate had been right that all of Haruno's interactions with her had been performative at best, a shallow imitation of the rancor the girls had once shared.

Sakura's stress had been directed at him.

Even more poignant, she had been trying to hide said stress from him. 

But why? 

The pieces dance and shift in Shikamaru's mind; Naruto and Gaara's strange interactions, the Valerian, Sasuke's absence, and most interesting of all, Sakura's sharp jade eyes, darting and calculating, and so desperately trying to seem as shallow as ever.

A knot of secrets laid before him, Team Seven tied up in its midst.

Before he had walked into this shop he had been thinking about how bored he was growing of Asuma's lectures about the Chuunin exams. The universe, annoying as it was, had offered him an apology for all the nagging it seems. What better way to cure boredom for one Shikamaru Nara than to untangle puzzles. 

His grey eyes track once more to the spot where Sakura had been standing.

My move, Haruno, he thinks with a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen y'all, I love Sakura so much. She deserves the world and also, perhaps, a rival who is as smart as her.   
> Shika may be a shithead but we gotta love someone who can give Sakura a run for her money in the brains category. 
> 
> Just in case anyone is concerned about Ino being written the way she is, please know that I absolutely do not intend to minimize her to Mean Girl tm. Yes she is being an absolute ass in this chapter and yes she says some _really terrible things_ but she is a 13-year-old girl who feels abandoned by her best friend and first crush. She's very hurt and thus not prioritizing making the smartest or the kindest choices right now. 
> 
> Anyway, for folks asking about Gaara, here's where we start seeing his path begin to drift from canon as well. Shukaku is suddenly coming face to face with a Kurama who not only has a _lot_ more autonomy than your typical sealed Juubi would, but also seems ready to actually defend his vessel? A wild revelation for the crazy sand raccoon on all fronts and for the little boy whose life he keeps fucking up. 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Updates will go back to their normal once a week frequency now so this coming Friday you can expect action, plans going first very right and then very badly wrong and perhaps...the first official slash tag to be added to this fic. 
> 
> Please drop a comment! I love hearing y'alls thoughts and absolutely read every single one of them. <3 sending hugs!


	7. Standing At The Cliff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't fill your cup until you empty all it has. You can't understand what lays ahead if you don't understand the past. You'll never learn to fly now until you're standing at the cliff, and you can't truly love until you've given up on it.  
> -Satellite, Rise Against 
> 
> edited by loverinstinct and also FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (my heroes!!)

When the evening they’ve set to remove the curse mark finally arrives, Sasuke feels as though his skin is going to crawl off his body. The damned mark is like a spider crouched against his throat at all times, vibrating with malice and poisonous falsity.

“I can offer you power. I can make you invincible,” it seems to hiss directly into his mind without ceasing. 

He’s gotten very good at ignoring it but it’s exhausting to say the least.

Tonight Orochimaru’s touch feels more agitated than normal, it’s whispered promises more desperate. Sasuke can't help but wonder if it somehow knows that its hours are numbered.

He's sitting in the large dining room that they've pretty much never used in all their time here at the Hatake compound. Team 7 usually eats in the kitchen proper so they just don’t have a need for the massive space. The most action the room has seen so far was that one time last week that Sakura chased Naruto around the house after he had played fetch with the Ninken using her hairbrush.

Now, the dusty banquet table has been shoved out of the room along with all the chairs. The dying light of evening coming from the high windows on one wall sends shadows long and dark across the floor. The air itself feels charged, anticipatory, _taut_. 

Or maybe that’s just him projecting. 

Sasuke can hear Naruto and Sakura bickering in the connected kitchen, sniping back and forth over who has to wash the largest soup pan and the sound of splashing sudsy water, most likely aimed at each other. He knows them well enough by now to hear the currents of tension underlying their playful squabbling, the strain of reaching their first true barrier as a team. 

Everything hinges on tonight.

Sasuke isn’t alone in the empty dining hall.

Kakashi crouches across the room from him, doing a final check on the lines of the array he's painted across the floor. The white haired Jonin’s Sharingan traces over a page in one of the Fūinjutsu tomes he's taken to carting around the past couple days, comparing whatever's on the page to what he's painstakingly copied down.  
It’s easily the largest seal Sasuke has ever seen, nearly 15 feet across and brimming with precise lines and symbols. Kakashi had spent nearly the entire day hunched over with a pot of red ink, a stack of dusty books and scrawled notes, and a foldable ruler, working inch by perfectly precise inch to lay the array on the bamboo floor.  
Sasuke watches as his Sensei flips a few pages, pulls out a sheet of notes, narrows his eyes at them and then after a few beats stuffs them away and snaps the huge book closed. 

Kakashi announces in the nearly maniacally cheerful tone with which Sasuke has recently grown very familiar, "Well if it isn't right then I have no idea what's wrong with it and hopefully me and you will die painlessly!" 

Sasuke would be worried more about Kakashi's recent tendency to talk about them dying with a smile on his face if he didn’t kinda get it.

Team 7 has been running themselves ragged physically and emotionally for the past three weeks. Between their efforts to not only escape the village successfully, but also remove his curse mark and keep Naruto's seal from disintegrating further _and_ that damned Nara or anyone else from catching onto what they are up to, the stress is starting to take its toll. 

All of them are getting a little...punchy is the nice way to put it, Sasuke thinks. Suicidally close to just saying fuck it and cutting the curse mark off with a Kunai and then going to assassinate the damn Hokage himself may be closer to the mark.

Naruto ducks into the room before Sasuke can follow that particularly lovely daydream much further. 

The blonde still has soap suds at the edges of his rolled up shirt sleeves and some of the damp from washing dishes has stuck strands of his bright hair to his forehead. The red of his eyes is still…. new, but not in a bad way, Sasuke thinks as he watches the steadiness with which Naruto moves. He’s gotten stronger in this past month. 

Meanwhile, Sasuke has been sitting on his ass in the village that destroyed his entire world and doing _nothing_. 

“Use me. I can make you strong. I won’t ever make you sit on the sidelines,” whispers the curse mark.

Sasuke lifts a hand to his neck and digs his nails into it, glad for the sharp spike of pain to pull him away from those damning promises. 

At the movement red eyes flash his direction, catching his gaze before crinkling in a dazzling smile. The curse mark’s whispering immediately fades to background noise as Sasuke instead determinedly ignores the swooping lurch his stomach gives at Naruto’s smile. He still lets his lips curl up slightly in response though.

Naruto beams at the acknowledgment.

Sakura follows their blonde teammate out of the kitchen and looking between the two of them rolls her eyes skyward. She ducks around Naruto and walks over to Kakashi who is checking over the chakra vessel that sits at the edge of the massive seal. 

“Dinner’s all put away, Sensei. Is the seal ready to go?” Sakura asks.

“We’ll find out!” Kakashi replies cheerfully. 

Sakura shoots him a look but chooses not to argue with him. Naruto jogs over to where Sasuke is sitting against the wall.

“How’re you feeling?” He asks. “Is the Valerian workin’ yet?”

Sasuke shrugs. He had taken the strange drug that Kakashi had mixed for him right after dinner. The goal was to dampen his body's natural fear responses and resistances. The seal that Kakashi had laid, a Contravene Seal as he’d been calling it, would be invading every inch of his chakra system and if Sasuke’s body tried to fight against it, removing the mark wouldn’t have a chance in hell of working.

“A little dizzy, a little sluggish,” Sasuke answers honestly. 

“That’s good,” Sakura tells him, having made her way over without him noticing. “Kakashi Sensei said that its effect shouldn’t be too overt, just something to relax you so the seal will be less likely to cause damage.”

“I don’t like that it can cause damage at all,” Naruto mumbles sullenly.

It’s a conversation they’ve had as a team several times now. 

“I’ll be fine Dobe,” Sasuke says even as Sakura opens her mouth to probably explain again that messing around with chakra systems and seals was always dangerous and that they had taken all the precautions they could given their limited resources. 

Naruto nods, eyes flicking once worriedly between Sasuke and the seal behind them.

Visibly steeling himself, the blonde holds out a fist into the center of their little group.

“Together!” He declares. 

It’s the mantra they’ve taken to murmuring to each other in those moments when what they are trying to do seems unreachable. When Sakura came home sobbing from the Office of Internal affairs after emancipating herself from her family, when Sasuke woke up screaming from a nightmare of his parents bodies at his feet, when the Eight Trigrams Seal burned like fire through Naruto’s body and he curled on the floor feverish and weak, they reminded each other of the promise that they weren’t alone, that they were a team and would walk alongside one another. 

Sakura and Sasuke reach without hesitation to rest their own fists against Naruto’s.

“Together,” Sakura agrees with a smile. Sasuke just presses his knuckles more tightly against theirs, grounding himself in the warmth of Naruto’s skin and the growing calluses on Sakura’s fist. 

Kakashi stands across the room, silent as he watches the three of them.

"Ready?" He asks as Team 7 steps back from one another.

Sasuke nods and, moving around Sakura and Naruto, starts to make his way towards the Contravene Seal. 

A hand catches his wrist.

Sasuke looks back to meet Naruto's eyes.

The blonde's grip is tight enough that Sasuke can feel the bones of his wrist grinding together, but he doesn't mind. He gets it.

"Don't be a scaredy cat," he murmurs to the Jinchuriki, smiling at the immediate tick of annoyance that appears on Naruto's brow at what is becoming an inside joke between them, "I'll be fine." 

Naruto looks back and forth between his eyes for a few moments longer, searching before he quietly responds.

"Don't let somethin' as lame as this kill you, okay? We've still got a lot to do." 

Sasuke nods and then waits patiently for Naruto to release his wrist. The other boy does, a reluctance to his movements even now.

Sasuke ignores his counterpart's fear, ignores his own too, and steps into the seal on the floor. 

Immediately he feels a sickening lurch in his stomach. His vision rolls, vertigo assaulting his balance and skin prickling violently. A bolt of pain pulses from the mark down through his body, starting slow and then increasing in tempo as he nears the center of the array. The valerian takes some of the serrated edge off the feeling thankfully but it still _hurts_.

His face must twist with discomfort because Kakashi's voice comes garbled to his ears, as if he's deep underwater. 

"If it's hurting then that probably means the Contravene Seal is right. The curse mark is reacting negatively." 

“Good to know,” Sasuke bites out without trying to quiet the sarcastic twist to his words. 

He pushes forward, feeling the world tilt and bend around him and in a desperate bid for stability he focuses his eyes on the rest of Team 7.

Kakashi crouches at the edge of the seal in front of him, face drawn, hair haphazard and both eyes ringed in the shadows of the sleepless nights it’s taken to prepare this ritual.

His teammates have moved next to their Sensei. Sakura is kneeling right next to Kakashi and has snatched one of his books and is glancing rapidly between it and the seal, uncaring about the pink strands falling into her face or the dust getting on her loose sweatpants.

And Naruto, bright and strong and impossible, is focused on Sasuke, just like Sasuke is on him. Red eyes holding black like a waypoint on an unsteady horizon.  
Sasuke can hear the other boy’s voice echoing in his head, _we've still got a lot to do_. 

All four of them do. 

His team.

Come what may, Sasuke realizes, he doesn’t regret a moment of this past month.

Stillness and arguments and nightmares and tragedies and all, he wouldn't take any of it back. 

Sasuke steps into the center of the seal and waits for whatever will happen next, knowing he won't meet it alone. 

~

Kakashi watches the nearly drunk way that his student stumbles to the center of the Contravene Seal and feels trepidation pool in his gut like a bad omen.

He had extrapolated from what he could find in his research that the curse mark would start reacting negatively to the seal right away but he didn't expect it to be this severe. If its hold on Sasuke is enough to cause this level of harm with only passive intervention…

Kakashi feels his heartbeat ratchet up.

He glances to the side at the chakra vessel next to him. It's a large, dark crystal in an artfully welded, metal base, with seals of containment and release carved along its sides.

Kakashi stole it from the Barrier and Containment units storage chamber more than a fortnight ago and it's both the only reason he has even a chance in hell of pulling the curse mark off alone, and also the reason they've had to wait this long to try at all. Kakashi has spent at least an hour each day pouring every spare ounce of chakra he has into the crystal. Without it he wouldn't have a fraction of the energy it's going to take to activate and maintain the Contravene Seal. 

Only minutes ago he was sure the vessel had a dense enough concentration of chakra to unwrite the mark, to power the seal and use it as a fulcrum to lever the mark carefully out of where it had burrowed into Sasuke's body, but now…

No time to let the fear stop him now. 

He hasn’t had the time to stop since Sasuke’s quiet voice broke apart everything he thought he knew about the village nearly three weeks ago.

He hasn’t really had time to stop since he found his father's lifeless corpse more than twenty years ago.

All Kakashi has ever known how to do is carry on. 

Sasuke reaches the center of the seal and comes to a shaky stop. The young Uchiha turns to his Sensei, his face pale but set with fierce determination. 

"Ready?" Kakashi asks. 

They both know it doesn't matter if Sasuke is or not, they have to get the mark off today or he won't have enough time to recover before they have to leave the village.  
But Kakashi still feels like he at least has to ask.

Once the seal is activated and fully has its talons in the curse mark, Kakashi won't be able to stop it without risking severely injuring the Uchiha. There is a reason it takes years of study to be a medic ninja of the caliber able to handle chakra networks, let alone issues as complicated as this curse mark. 

Thanks to the research he's poured so much of his time into, Kakashi isn't flying completely blind but he does feel a bit like he's heading straight for a typhoon with paper wings. 

Nevertheless, Sasuke nods.

Without waiting any longer, Kakashi sets an ungloved hand against the crystal vessel and begins to pull the stored chakra out of it and channel it into the array.  
It's a precise and careful process. The activation sequence for the seal has to be done in the exact right order to not only allow for the chakra to flow through the matrix but to counteract the natural patterns within the Curse mark all without causing irreparable damage to Sasuke's own system. 

Kakashi has spent nearly a hundred hours in the Konoha archive over the past three weeks and he still barely understands what he's doing as he energizes the four Cardinal Docks and the connecting Yang Reticulation.

The Contravene Seal begins to glow, the golden sparking light racing along the multitudes of lines painted across the floor, faster than the eye can follow. The air fills with a dangerous smell; burning and ozone and the unique scent of impossibly concentrated chakra.

Sakura and Naruto, crouched next to Kakashi near the edge of the array, try to follow the progress of the energy, the bright light catching on fearful crimson and jade eyes. But Sasuke, in the midst of the shining chaos, breathes out and closes his eyes. 

The tension releases from his muscles and he stands, calm and steady, as the energy of the seal barrels towards him.

These kids' trust in him is going to be the thing that breaks him, Kakashi thinks for a moment. 

It's going to break him and maybe, if he doesn't get them killed, it will put him back together too.

No time to wonder, no time to be afraid. 

The chakra lines collide with Sasuke's body in a flash and Kakashi instantly adjusts, twisting the energy and directing it into his student. His Sharingan spins, tracking the pulse of chakra as he pushes it through Sasuke's feet, up his spine, past his vulnerable heart and right into the corrupting mark on his neck. 

Sasuke arches like he's been electrocuted and a scream rips out of his lips. 

Kakashi barely registers it when Naruto shouts his teammates' name and lurches forward, Sakura's white knuckled grip the only thing keeping him from rushing into the glowing matrix. 

He can't spare any focus for the Jinchuriki as the energy of the seal burrows into the curse mark, like fire rushing through rotted roots, like lighting through veins.  
Only, that's too simple, because the curse mark is fighting back.

It shouldn't be able to do that.

Everything Kakashi had read said that curse marks were stagnant manifestations of their architects' will, less flexible and versatile than seals.

This mark, however, breathes.

It writhes against the energy of the Contravene Seal, burrowing away from the cleansing chakra as if it's escaping deeper into the network of Sasuke's chakra pathways. 

Kakashi curses, doubles his pull on the vessel crystal and increases the force of the cleansing energy. If he loses even a modicum of the curse mark’s darkness in the windings of Sasuke's chakra system, it will grow back twice as strong and three times as corrosive as before.

The air of the room begins to shift and spiral. The massive amounts of energy create gusts of wind that pull at their clothes and chakra escaping the seal fills the space with sparks of light and fire. 

Kakashi can't hear the wind. He can’t even tell if Sasuke is screaming anymore. His own ears are filled with roaring as chakra rushes through his veins.  
Kakashi doesn't think he's ever channeled this much energy before in his life and his very skin _aches_ with it.

But it's working the mark is dying. 

He can feel it shriveling and burning as Kakashi forces the energy from the Contravene Seal through its winding pathways. 

Kakashi feels a flicker of hope.

Then everything goes to shit.

The vessel crystal lets out an ominous creak, flashes once dully, and then a crack appears at its base, winding rapidly up across the surface. The chakra pouring from within gutters, flickers and fails. 

The light in the room shifts instantly, changing from the warm glow to a cold, sharp white as the seal begins pulling directly from Kakashi's own chakra reserves. The switch feels like taking a blow directly to the diaphragm. 

"Fuck," he gasps, free hand slamming onto the ground to keep himself steady as the pull of energy grows jagged and painful, chakra being yanked out of his body by the seal. 

"Sensei?!" Sakura sounds afraid. She's right to be.

Somewhere in the transition between the vessel and his own reserves Sasuke has dropped to the ground at the center of the seal, breathing going suddenly shallow. His eyes are vacant and his skin is growing paler by the moment. Kakashi may not be a medical expert but he's seen enough severely injured people to recognize the symptoms of shock. The curse mark twists almost gleefully, its claws digging further into Sasuke's system. 

" _Fuck_ ," He says again and the fear must bleed into his voice because Sakura, 13 years old and still somehow always the person he ends up leaning on in these moments shouts, 

"What do you need Sensei!?" 

Kakashi feels like the marrow is being forcibly extracted from his bones, but he manages to gasp out a response. 

''More chakra. The curse mark isn't gone. Vessel’s broken and I'm being drained too fast." 

It's true. Kakashi is no slouch when it comes to chakra reserves but at the rate the Contravene Seal is burning through him both he and Sasuke will be dead in less than a minute. 

"Take mine!" That's Naruto, scarlet eyed and bleeding with chakra brighter than the sun. His voice is part growl as it rushes from between sharpened canines and two tails flick with agitation along the bamboo flooring behind him. 

If only the solution were that easy.

"I can't," Kakashi grits out. "Your chakra is too unstable right now and too high density normally anyway. I couldn't use it without a conduit." 

Kakashi feels his heart rate increase again, dangerously fast now as the flow to the seal pulls at him.

"I can be the conduit!" Sakura's voice is strong but rife with desperation. Maybe she can see the pulse jumping in his neck, the shake in his pale hands.

"No. It's harder than you know and your control is impressive but not that good." 

"I've done it before Sensei! In the Apothecary with Naruto!"

"Not for the Fox’s chakra." Kakashi gasps and nearly collapses as the seal bends and crackles, a new aspect of its design awakening to counteract movement from within the curse mark. Sasuke, still on the floor, arches and lets out a weak, heartbreaking sound of pain. 

"I can do it Sensei!" Sakura exclaims again and Kakashi glances to the side at her, his vision swimming with black dots and the crackling fuzz of chakra. 

She stares back at him, that spark of determination he's seen over and over has grown, bloomed into a forest fire.

He believes her. 

And he doesn't have any other options.

"Go," he spits out and it's the only confirmation she needs. 

The pinkette turns to Naruto and shouts,“Try to keep your chakra flow steady and tell Kurama we may need his help.” 

Then she reaches out and grabs Kakashi’s shoulder with one hand and Naruto’s forearm with the other. 

It’s like lighting a barrel of gunpowder under Kakashi’s nose in which Naruto is the gunpowder and Sakura is the spark. 

Kakashi’s faltering system is suddenly awash in concentrated, searing energy. He feels like a shallow stream bed that’s had an entire ocean emptied into it, like a flea trying to rein a giant boar. 

The light of the seal changes again, lightning white to fiery orange in less than a breath. 

He barely registers Sakura dropping to her knees beside him, her teeth grinding together and muscles locking with pain.

He turns slightly to look, suddenly remembering that the chakra she is feeding him is the _stabilized_ version of whatever she’s drawing from Naruto.

The Sharingan focuses on her face just as blood begins to run from Sakura’s nose. She meets his worried gaze with eyes glazed in pain.

“Sensei focus!” That’s Naruto, wreathed in light and crouched with an arm behind Sakura’s shoulders, helping keep her steady even as his chakra scalds through her body. 

Kakashi nods once and returns his gaze to the Contravene Seal. 

Sasuke is still collapsed at the center. 

They are in the final stages now, the most critical ones and if he can’t finish this soon he’s not sure Sakura will be able to remain conscious, if _he’ll_ be able to remain conscious. 

Kakashi locks onto the chakra, one part the golden light of Naruto and three parts snarling, burning Nine-Tails.

He doesn’t know if the Kyuubi is willingly offering its power in this endeavor but Kakashi won’t look a gift fox in the mouth and so he slings the roiling energy into the matrix before him. 

He steadies the flow, deepens its hold and its density and _pushes_.

He feels the curse mark grow afraid and doesn’t fight the feral smile that slashes across his face. 

They are _winning_. 

The black dots at the corners of his vision are growing, as is the roaring in his ears.

Sakura is still upright but her grip is shaking against his shoulder, her fingers digging so hard into him that he can feel the spidery cracks of fractures beginning to race through the bones of his shoulder. 

Naruto is radiating anxiety next to her but his energy isn’t faltering in the least.

Sasuke is still breathing, even if it’s shallow and too fast. 

But they are winning.

Kakashi buries the pain and the worry.

Wielding a deluge of chakra like a scythe he activates the final interior ring of the seal, sending a jolt of power into the deepest recesses of Sasuke’s chakra system and incinerating the last reaching tendrils of the curse mark. 

Only the corrupting thing’s heart is left now.

Kakashi pools energy, carefully maintaining the steady flow of the rest of the seal at the same time. He gathers chakra, building it like he would for a Chidori only a hundred times more concentrated.

The chakra of the Nine-Tails flowing through his veins feels like a star is being born in the center of his chest.

His vision is only a pinhole now, consciousness hanging on by a thread. 

This last thing. Do this last thing and you can rest, Kakashi tells himself.

He thinks he feels Sakura hit the ground next to him but it’s okay. He has enough chakra swimming through his veins to finish this.

Surging to his feet as the world narrows around him, Kakashi takes three long strides to the center of the seal.

He drops to his knees and, with a hand coated in chakra dense enough to burn through solid steel, Kakashi slams his palm against the side of Sasuke’s neck where the last weak black outlines of Orochimaru's touch remain. 

He drives the energy home like he would a Kunai through an enemy's chest.

The curse mark shatters under his hand.

Kakashi barely registers colliding with the ground.

He thinks he can hear Naruto shouting but his eyes are so heavy and his chakra is all but gone.

Just a few minutes of rest and he'll check on his kids he thinks, surrendering to the darkness that wraps around him with all-encompassing arms. 

Just a few minutes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears! Sorry this is posting sooo late! I was traveling all day today and this is the first chance I've had to sit down.
> 
> Not much to say about this one besides hope you all enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun inventing sealing bullshit and then making it all go wrong. >;) 
> 
> Next week you can expect a new character and a new flavor of Hard Times For Kakashi!
> 
> Lots of love as always and can't wait to read your comments!!  
> Time to go crash now I think, jetlag is a cruel mistress.


	8. No More Questions, No More Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No more questions no more lies, do and deal for no surprises 'cause you will never slip away in the night.  
> \- Slip Away, Mumford & Sons 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

When Kakashi regains consciousness it's to the sight of worried hazel eyes peering down at him and the smell of ink and strong coffee tickling his nose. 

"Oh good," says the figure above him, tucking a soft looking strand of brown hair behind an ear, "you're awake. I was worried I would have to take you to the hospital with how much chakra you depleted."

Kakashi stares at Umino Iruka as the Chuunin settles back on his heels. 

The Jonin is out of his depth. The last thing he remembers is the scalding feeling of the curse mark shattering under his palm, after that there is nothing. He's clearly been moved to the living room, back resting against the worn familiar rug and the old couch the kids crash on after their long days of training just to his left. 

"Iruka," Kakashi manages to croak, "the kids?"

The brown haired man smiles gently at him. Kakashi has always thought that Iruka had an exceptionally pretty smile. A very nice ass too.

Ah, that would be the Chakra exhaustion talking, he supposes.

Iruka is saying something so Kakashi blinks and tries to focus.

"- and Naruto and Sakura are sleeping with him. I thought about separating them to different beds at least but they seem happy all piled together like that and I assumed that Sasuke would want his team close. Sakura isn't unconscious anymore, just exhausted. She does have some burns from the chakra she channeled but I was able to heal those at least a bit. Naruto was worked up considering he ran all the way to my apartment after you all blacked out but he's fine otherwise."

"So they are okay?" Kakashi says, needing to be sure.

"Yes, Hatake-san they are fine."

Kakashi breathes out a long slow breath. He hasn't fucked it up yet. They're still alive.

Attempting to regain some control over the situation he says, "Sensei you know I've told you to call me Kakashi." 

He's grateful for the mask that hides most of his face, as he’s certain the grin he tries to send the school teacher's way ends up more grimace than anything. Normally he'd tack on some other flirty comment just to enjoy the pretty blush that paints Iruka's tan cheeks when he does, but he still feels like he got run over by a whole pack of Ninken or perhaps punched in the face by Gai so he leaves it alone for now.

The floor feels nice, Kakashi thinks, closing his eyes for a second. Laying down feels _nice_. 

When Kakashi opens his eyes again, after what he could have _sworn_ was only a few moments, Iruka is leaning over his space with a cup of something sweet smelling. He tilts the straw towards Kakashi.

"Drink. Sugar helps replenish chakra quicker."

Kakashi makes a face. "I'm not one of your kids Iruka-sensei," he says, aiming for a firm tone and landing on petulant instead. Kakashi hates being babied.

"No," Iruka says serenely, "but you are Naruto's Sensei and a fellow ninja so I feel an obligation to you and honestly, if I have to drag your skinny ass all the way to the hospital because you were too stubborn to drink some juice then I'm going to shred every single shoddy mission report you've turned in for the past year and make you eat them."

Kakashi blinks.

"Hot." Kakashi's mouth says before his brain can approve.

"What." 

Kakashi chooses to cut his losses where he can and without another word takes the juice from Iruka. 

The 23 year old's eyes are still narrowed at him and a pink flush dusts across his tan skin but Kakashi thinks he's in the clear.

He finishes the juice and sets it to the side to flop back bonelessly against the floor of the living room.

He buries a flinch of pain as he jostles what are most likely some minor fractures in his shoulder from where Sakura was grabbing him. Gods she is getting strong. Iruka is still watching him, hands twisting in a gesture reminiscent of Naruto's own nervous energy.

"So when are the four of you leaving the village?" He asks.

The breath freezes in Kakashi’s lungs. 

Iruka continues, glancing to the side like he's asking about an awkward date, not treason. 

"It wasn't particularly hard to figure out, you know. You should be more careful. Naruto isn't very good at keeping secrets and the training you've been having him and Sakura doing is fairly obviously not combat but survival oriented and-"

Hound rips himself off the floor and slams into Iruka faster than the other can even register he's in danger. 

He flips them both over, pinning Iruka down roughly against the ground, his legs on either side of the shocked Chuunin's hips. He expertly ignores the way his head spins at the sudden movement and the quiet little sound of shock that escapes Iruka's mouth. He whips out a Kunai and rests it underneath the schoolteacher's jaw, razor sharp edge held against his jugular like a promise.

"Who else knows?" Hound asks him, nearly gentle, but radiating with deadly intent. 

Iruka is staring, those bright hazel eyes wide with surprise and faint fear.

To Hound's shock, the schoolteacher's expression shifts suddenly and Iruka bares his teeth at him, straining up into the blade of the Kunai and Kakashi's hips holding him down. 

He growls back, "You think so little of me Kakashi? Think I'd sell out Naruto like that? He's as good as a son to me!"

"And you are a ninja loyal to the Leaf and the Hokage above all," Hound counters, voice dead. "Why else would you come here and wave your knowledge in my face? It's a threat, plain and simple."

Kakashi is going to have to kill another friend.

He'll do it to keep the kids safe, but looking at the thin line of blood that appears along Iruka's neck as he holds the smaller man down under his blade tears at something in his heart that was already so shriveled and broken that he's surprised it can still be hurt at all. 

Iruka has the gall to roll his eyes at the murderous Jonin above him. Kakashi has always known the Chunin to be unreasonably brave but it still surprises him.

"You absolute idiot." Iruka boldly locks his gaze with Obito's Sharingan. Kakashi was barely even conscious of uncovering it.

"I'm not here to betray you or the kids. I'm here to offer my help."

Kakashi blinks at him.

"Your...help?" 

"Well, that and to keep you from dying of Chakra exhaustion, you self sacrificing bastard, but _yes_ , my _help_." The school teacher responds with a glare. 

Kakashi doesn't remove the Kunai from where it's pressed against Iruka's throat but he doesn't kill the man either.

"How could you possibly help?" 

Iruka is still not looking away from Kakashi's eyes.

"By feeding you information from inside the village. I'm close to the Hokage and working at the mission desk means I am privy to the coming and goings of nearly all active Leaf ninja. I'd be able to tell you who was being sent after you when you run, maybe even keep you ahead of what information they can glean on you and the kids."

Kakashi is thunderstruck. What Iruka is offering would be a gamechanger. Team Seven would go from being a lame rabbit barely dodging the snapping teeth of the hounds at its heels to a hawk able to fly out of reach or perhaps a snake that can disappear into the foliage.

But only if Iruka isn't lying to him.

The Chuunin must read the indecision in his silence because he arches his neck, leaving everything bared to the knife. With Kakashi so chose, killing him would be easier than breathing. 

"Use your Sharingan to confirm that I'm telling you the truth if you have to or slit my throat right here, _Kakashi_."

He emphasizes Kakashi's name, defiantly reminding Kakashi that only moments ago the Jonin had been arguing that he and Iruka were friends. 

Brave, stupid, infuriating Chuunin, Kakashi thinks.

Gods save him from ninja who seemed to believe that he was still a good person. 

Kakashi leans in so close that his eyes must be the only thing that Iruka can see, their breath intermingling in the space between them. He searches his face, the Sharingan dissecting and memorizing every flex and tic of Iruka's muscles, every flicker of emotion in his gaze.

It would be almost romantic, he muses, if not for the blade in his hands. 

"Say it again. Swear to me that you aren't trying to betray us."

This close Kakashi can just make out the tiniest flecks of gold in Iruka's eyes. 

"I swear on my parent's graves that I do not intend to betray you or the Genin of Team 7. I want to help." 

He's telling the truth, Kakashi realizes, dissecting the micro-expressions in the fierce look that accompanies Iruka’s words.

Gods help him, this school teacher fully intends to commit treason and help Team 7 defect. 

"Why? You don't even know why we are leaving," Kakashi manages.

Iruka doesn't even hesitate.

"No, but I know Naruto well enough to understand that whatever it is that's making you all run must be bad enough to separate him from his dream of becoming Hokage. And," Iruka pauses, studying Kakashi just as intently as the Jonin is studying him "despite your shitty mission reports and habit of reading porn in public, I trust your judgment Kakashi-san. I know you want what's best for Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura. If that's leaving the village…" He breathes out slowly, a flicker of fear breaking through the determination in his gaze, "then I have to believe that you have a very good reason for doing so." 

Kakashi just stares for several long beats before finally choking out, "What did I say about all that honorifics nonsense Iruka-sensei." 

Iruka offers him a smile that gives Naruto's brightness a run for its money. 

"Well you best just call me Iruka then, Kakashi. It seems we'll be committing treason together after all." 

"Right," says Kakashi and, realizing that he's still literally on top of the other man with a blade to his throat, flushes under his mask. 

Twirling the Kunai around his finger Kakashi reholsters the blade and sits back on his heels, offering a hand to pull Iruka off the old carpet where he'd pinned him. The young man takes it with a smile and as he's sitting up unfolds his other hand to show Kakashi a paper seal that he had tucked away in his palm. 

"A Banshee seal?" Kakashi says in surprise after studying the dark blue lines of ink for a few moments. He gives the Chunin an impressed look.

"That, plus a few simple modifications of my own," Iruka responds, lifting his free hand to rub humbly at the back of his neck. "I'm really glad I didn't have to use it. It always makes my ears ring for weeks after." 

"I didn't even notice you had palmed it," Kakashi offers and honestly, he hadn't. Iruka had somehow armed himself, stealthily and effectively between when Kakashi had lunged and collided with him.

"Ah, that's cause I had it in my sleeve the whole time," Iruka corrects mildly. 

Kakashi blinks.

"I teach dangerous, hyperactive children all morning and deal with deadly, hair-trigger ninjas all evening, did you think I haven't had someone jump me like that before?" 

Kakashi…actually really didn't.

Rolling his eyes the brunette reaches to his collar and pulling his mesh shirt aside a few inches reveals a pale star shaped scar just under his left collar bone.

Hound’s half of Kakashi's consciousness provides; stab wound. Tanto or Kunai most likely. Healed by a medic, not naturally. Ragged edges so it was either dealt with an unsteady hand or he struggled against his attacker.

_Collar bone…. freckles....pretty…_ offers the other, significantly less helpful half.

"Ouch?" Kakashi says weakly.

"Yep!" Iruka returns brightly. "A Jonin broke while he was turning in his report to me at the mission desk. I guess I moved too quickly grabbing the approval stamp because he vaulted the desk and stabbed me. Luckily I had a knockout seal on me and I managed to take him down before anyone else got hurt." 

Kakashi suddenly very, very badly wants to know the name of the Jonin in question. So he can have some friendly words with the other ninja. Maybe remind him about protocol regarding mental stability after taxing missions. Maybe break his arm for hurting the sweetly smiling Chunin in front of him.

"It really wasn't that bad Kakashi," Iruka says with a grin. Apparently Kakashi hasn't managed to keep the ugly streak of protectiveness off his face as much as he hoped. Damned Inuzuka instincts. 

The school teacher continues, tucking the Banshee Seal away. 

"A little intense in the moment for sure, but in the grand scheme of things a tiny scar is worth the chance to remind all you lazy Jonin that my bite is just as dangerous as my bark." 

Iruka winks at him and Kakashi is instantly blushing again like a preteen. God he hates his pale complexion sometimes.

Iruka laughs at him, the sound rich and bright. Kakashi can count on one hand the number of people who've had the nerve to laugh at him in the past year and a majority of them are in the building with him currently.

Kakashi is suddenly hit by the fact that he has an ally. An ally who is an adult ninja and not a giant, demon fox.

"I'm...that's to say….I really…"

Iruka raises an eyebrow at his stumbling words, smile turning gentle and warm at the edges. 

"You're welcome Kakashi. I know you must have been very overwhelmed the past couple weeks."

Kakashi nods weakly and resists the urge to shunshin out of the room in a desperate bid to preserve his ego even a little bit.

He's going to blame this entire series of exchanges on the Chakra exhaustion and no one can stop him. 

There are a few beats of silence before Iruka asks, tentative again in a way that doesn't fit his bright fierceness at all. 

"You're absolutely sure that you all are leaving?"

Kakashi has been unsuccessfully asking that question himself for what feels like every waking moment of the past three weeks so he's surprised by how easily the answer comes now.

"I'm sure, Iruka. Team 7 was hellbent on leaving the moment we found out what really goes on in the shadows of this village." 

The brown haired chuunin digests this for several beats and then nods.

He doesn't ask for more details, which Kakashi is grateful for, and instead simply inquires, "So, what comes next? You've got Sasuke's curse mark off, Sakura's stamina is easily five times what it was, and Naruto seems to have grown fairly adept at leading that Sanin pervert around the village on a wild goose chase. When do you all leave? What else needs doing? How can I help?" 

Kakashi takes a few moments to pull his eyes away from the tan strip of skin showing where Iruka's collar hasn't quite laid back flat and forces his mind onto the mission.

"What's left is we rest and then run. We're leaving the morning of the Chuunin Exam Finals in 6 days," he says simply. It feels impossible that the day is so soon, but he has to accept that he's made all the preparations he can.

"Oh and set the bombs," he adds, almost as an afterthought.

Iruka's eyebrows tick up.

"Bombs?"

"Non-lethal. Probably. They were Sakura's idea. We're using them to muddy the water a bit and give us a head start." 

Iruka nods slowly. 

"It's a good idea, though it's going to immediately bump up the threat categorization they place you under once you're marked as rogue."

Kakashi scoffs out a bitter laugh and leans back on his hands, letting his still swimming vision rove about the dingy living room.

"Iruka, even if we leave muffin baskets for every damn Anbu and send a spa package to Hiruzen himself we're going to be marked as S rank missing-nin the moment we step out those gates." 

"Well that's just pessimistic-" Iruka starts with a frown. 

"He's a Jinchuriki, Iruka." 

The school teacher freezes, a stricken look sliding across his face as he glances down the hallway towards where the kids are sleeping peacefully. Where Naruto sleeps peacefully. 

"I had...forgotten. What exactly that means. To me, he's just Naruto. You know?" He murmurs.

Kakashi does know. When the blonde is whining about early mornings or begging for ramen for dinner or laughing with Sakura and Sasuke it's so easy for him to become just a 13 year old boy in Kakashi's mind. But he's not, not to the rest of the world and the powerful players that run it.

Politics wise, Naruto is nearly incomparably valuable. The strongest of the Bijuu, young, impressionable and untethered by family, he's a weighty piece in the tentative balance of power constantly shifting between the major elemental nations. 

He's a weapon of mass destruction. 

Luckily, Kakashi thinks, looking at the fearful gaze Iruka directs towards where his student is sleeping soundly, Naruto has another weapon in his corner. Hound may be rusted and bent but he's easily one of the most dangerous men in the shinobi world and he won't fail again in protecting what's precious to him.

"Hey," he says quietly, placing a placating hand on Iruka's shoulder, "I'll keep him safe. I'll keep them all safe."

Iruka turns fierce hazel eyes on him again and he responds resolutely."You will and I'm going to help."

Kakashi gives the man the most genuine smile he can, even with a headache spiking from the chakra exhaustion and regular, bone deep exhaustion setting in. 

Iruka smiles back and then, hopping up from where he's been sat on the floor says cheerfully, "Right then! I'm going to go get you some more juice and _I'm_ going to get a cup of the blackest coffee I can wrangle out of that dinky old pot in your kitchen and then you are going to walk me through your plans." 

"Why don't I get coffee?" Kakashi doesn't mean to be whining again but his head hurts and everything is still fuzzy at the edges and he doesn't _want_ juice. 

The look Iruka gives him, all bright, eviscerating smile and lovely eyes that promise pain, is the same one that has sent more than one Jonin fleeing from the mission desk.

"Because, dear Kakashi, you have chakra exhaustion, and also you waited until you nearly killed yourself with said chakra exhaustion less than a week before you defected from the most powerful ninja village in the world with my basically adopted son to _let me in the loop_. So I will help you go over your plans until they are rock solid, and I will drink your coffee and you will get _juice_."

Kakashi watches mournfully as Iruka spins on his heels and strides off towards his kitchen.

How can someone so cruel have such a glorious ass, he wonders and flops back on the floor.

~ 

Sasuke wakes up feeling like he's been stabbed multiple times in every inch of his skin. Each breath burns in his chest and nausea turns his stomach.

He hurts _everywhere_.

But the Curse Mark is gone.

He carefully feels along his chakra pathways, searching for the black creeping energy of Orochimaru's influence. There is nothing, only the steady thrum of his own chakra. 

He breathes, drained and aching, but for the first time in nearly a month, his body is his own.

The Uchiha opens his eyes to find himself in a large bed with warm and rumpled sheets. This is the room Kakashi has been sleeping in for the past several weeks. Sasuke isn’t alone.

His gaze finds Sakura first, curled into a ball near his side, bandages visible on her arms and peeking out from under her shirt. Naruto is sprawled out like a starfish on his other side, snoring softly, one arm on top of Sasuke's chest and a leg laying atop his hip, as if the blonde is worried Sasuke will disappear if he doesn't have a hand on him. 

They are both sound asleep.

Sasuke activates the Sharingan, immediately relieved again at the lack of the Curse Mark's toxic presence, and looks over his teammates. They are okay. They are tired, and Sakura definitely has several serious burns that Sasuke feels a pulse of concern over, but they are okay. All three of them are. 

He curls a fist tight as emotion rushes through his chest. They've made it over the first major hurdle together. 

Sasuke carefully, slowly, pushes himself off the bed and out from under his sprawling teammate. 

Naruto grumbles worriedly in his sleep but doesn't wake and Sakura remains dead to the world even when Naruto reaches a hand to grasp subconsciously at her wrist.  
Three weeks ago, Sasuke would have been violently jealous at the gesture. Now though, he just feels vaguely fond as he watches them resting.

His team.

He ducks out of the room on quiet, somewhat unsteady feet.

Following the nearly imperceptible sound of sleeping breaths he pokes a head into the living room to be greeted by the sight of Iruka Umino and Kakashi sprawled together on the floor.

They are surrounded by nearly a dozen open scrolls and several empty cups and mugs.

Iruka is tilted with his head against Kakashi's shoulder, the ratty blanket from the couch wrapped around his shoulders. He's drooling softly on Kakashi's shirt as he sleeps.

His Sensei seems to be asleep as well, one arm up on the couch he's leaning against, conveniently draped across Iruka's strong shoulders. He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is an even bigger mess than normal but he seems unharmed too. 

Sasuke wrinkles his nose, unsure about what it means that Iruka is here. If Kakashi is okay and isn't worried about it though…

He turns to leave and a quiet voice breaks the near silence of the compound.

"Sasuke." 

He turns back. Kakashi's eye is open, studying him carefully even as he holds perfectly still to avoid rousing Iruka.

"Are you alright?" The Jonin whispers. 

Sasuke nods and then responds just as quietly, "Sore, and drained, but the mark is definitely gone."

Kakashi nods and some tension seems to seep from his shoulders.

At the subtle movement Iruka gives a sleepy mumble and burrows closer, one arm coming up to lay across Kakashi's chest.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at his Sensei.

Kakashi, to Sasuke's complete bafflement, blushes slightly.

"Don't say shit unless you want me pointing out the way Naruto was wrapped around you when you were asleep" Kakashi whispers fiercely at him.

Sasuke glowers back, pretending the flush that creeps across his own face is annoyance or perhaps feverishness after the removal of the curse mark.

Instead of risking Kakashi saying more embarrassing things about him and Naruto, Sasuke inclines his head towards Iruka.

"He's with us?" 

Kakashi nods.

Sasuke doesn't trust it. 

"Are you sure you aren't being manipulated into trusting him?" He pushes, pointedly looking at the way Kakashi's body is angled towards the sleeping Chunin, his hand gently resting on the smaller man's upper arm.

"I held a Kunai against his throat and threatened him with the Sharingan and he swore to me on his parents' graves and then called me an idiot for not trusting him sooner. He's genuine," the Jonin says and maybe his defenses have gotten lower around them or maybe Sasuke has just gotten better at reading his Sensei because the baffled fondness in his face is clear as can be.

"I hope you're right," Sasuke murmurs back and then grabs another blanket off the armchair near him and tosses it to Kakashi smoothly.

The Jonin catches it without moving his shoulder or jostling his companion so much as an inch. 

"So you don't strain your neck sleeping like that." Sasuke offers as nonchalantly as possible and then without waiting for a response ducks back down the hallway to his team.

He hopes that Kakashi can understand the Thank You for what it is even though he doesn't say it aloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had the scene between Iruka and Kakashi written for about 2 months now. I, from the bottom of my heart, love these stupid bastards. Iruka is a wonderful, handsome, underappreciated badass, and Kakashi and I intend to make sure that everyone reading this fic gets that. 
> 
> Anyway, I had _so much_ fun writing the banter in this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it too! 
> 
> Next week you can expect my editor being mad at me for another 6000-word chapter, and three different vignettes into character dynamics that I have _thoughts_ about. The dawn of the final day draws very very near my friends. 
> 
> Thank you as always for your comments and kudos! I eagerly await your conjectures, clamors, and kindness. <3


	9. All My Wolves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my wolves, begin to howl. Wake me up, the time is now. Oh, can you hear the drumming? Oh, there's a revolution coming.  
> \- Revolution, The Score 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (love y'all!!)

The day before the final stage of the Chuunin Exams dawns bright and cool.

The first twinges of fall are making themselves known in the Land of Fire and Sakura appreciates them with all her heart for the ease that they give her morning run.  
She's honestly come to look forward to her early workouts. It's a time for her to be alone, to sort and order her increasingly spinning thoughts.

Today more than ever she needs the time to process through her anxieties.

They leave tomorrow.

In less than 24 hours Team 7 will be defecting from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

It's been her reality for almost a month now and it still feels like an impossibility. 

Maybe it will feel more real when they've actually passed through the gates for the last time.

Maybe it won't.

Sakura rounds the west side of the wall, her breaths coming steady and sure and her muscles burning pleasantly. She's not pushing it today for obvious reasons. Iruka Sensei had suggested last night that she take the morning off entirely. Kakashi had nearly fallen off his chair laughing at the look she had sent her former academy teacher at the mere idea.

It's not that she doesn't see the importance of rest in becoming stronger, or the wisdom in making sure her energy stores are full for what is certainly going to be a tense and high stakes trek to the east when they run. It's just that waking up before the rest of her team to run and stretch and build her muscles like she has been for 28 days now has become something of a security blanket for her.

It calms her and allows her to feel her feet under her. Lets her see the path ahead of her, emotionally as much as physically. 

It reminds her that she's not the same Sakura who declared her reason for becoming a ninja as love for a boy, or even the same one who cut her hair in the Forest of Death.

She's becoming something new and sharp and dangerous. 

Who would have thought three weeks ago that she'd turn out to be a jock like Lee or Gai Sensei. 

The comparison makes her blanch slightly and she pumps her arms a bit faster to escape the image of how dreadfully her pink hair would clash with a green jumpsuit. As she rounds the crest of one of the low lying hills just outside the walls of the village, the sun begins to break over the tops of Konoha’s signature massive trees, casting light against her face in golden rays. It's the one thing she'll miss most about the village, the sunrise over the trees, and she only appreciated it fully in her last month here.

Suddenly, a shiver trails up her spine disrupting her peaceful contemplation. A prickle on the back of her neck says she's not alone.

"Umino Iruka was at the Hatake Compound again last night," comes a drawl from the branches above her.

Sakura's thundering heart drops to her stomach and her mind kicks instantly into overdrive. She stops and looks up slowly, consciously keeping her muscles from locking in stress.

Shikamaru is perched in a tree above the path she's jogged dozens of times now, grinning down at her crookedly. 

"Are you following me?" Sakura asks, aiming for confusion.

The anger slips into her tone without her say-so.

The Nara drops from the tree and lands in front of her on the dusty trail, his hands in his pockets.

"I am." 

"Why?" She bites out.

He shrugs.

"I'm bored, and secrets interest me."

Will you deny that you're hiding something? He doesn't say.

Sakura hears it anyway.

"A person's private business isn't a secret." She says primly, switching personas. If clueless girl wouldn't work then maybe stick-in-the-mud would.

His grin widens.

"We're ninja, there is no such thing as private in this business, but kudos for effort." 

_Fucker_. 

"If I tell you will you just leave me alone?" She tries, blushing and lowering her eyes, fingers twisting around each other nervously.

"I'll listen to whatever lie you make up, sure, but if you try and convince me that this is something to do with your looovveee for Sasuke then I'm going to be disappointed because _predictable much_?"

Sakura drops her hands and the flustered act as well, glaring at the dark haired boy in front of her. 

Don't break his nose, _don't break his nose_ , Sakura commands herself.

He's still smirking at her. 

Fine then.

She turns and starts to walk away, back the way she came. 

Discretion is the better part of valor, retreat is the better part of outclassed and disadvantaged.

Sakura is smart. She is smart and ruthless and determined and conniving.

But Shikamaru is a genius. 

She takes three steps and then jolts to a stop, her shadow bound to the ground as if by a million ton weight.

Any hope she had of this being a passing interest to the Nara dies on the dusty ground where a thin strip of chakra-manipulated shadow connects her to him. She can't see his expression from where he's caught her but his voice is clear.

"Let's lay our tiles on the table." 

The Shadow Possession jutsu moves her body without her say-so, pacing to the side and turning so she can see him, parallel from her and watching her in the same way she is him.

"Here's what I know," he continues, "Team 7 has, for unstated reasons, all moved from their previous dwellings into the once-abandoned Hatake Family lands. Sasuke Uchiha forfeited his place in the Chuunin exams and has since been completely absent from the village. Naruto Uzumaki is spending his days avoiding Jiraya of the Sanin who arrived a little over a week ago now. He also seems to have developed a strange cough that affects his vocal cords, basic speech patterns, eye color, and personality at random times. 

“Kakashi Hatake has gone from vaguely bored Jonin legend and shitty teacher to completely exhausted and devoted Sensei. He's hiding the exhaustion well but the signs are still there. He's also become an avid book reader considering the number of times the Chunin staffing the village archives told me they have seen him in the past fortnight.

“Iruka Sensei has visited the Hatake compounds every night for the past three days, each time carrying scrolls. He's more obviously worn down than Hatake, nervous on his Mission Desk shifts and more snappish in class." 

He pauses, let's Sakura breath through the damning stream of information.

"And Sakura Haruno," he steps closer, forcing her to mirror him. He doesn't stop until they are less than a foot apart.

He looks down the few inches that separate them in height, studying her face. For the first time, Sakura lets the full extent of the anger and helplessness she's feeling wash over her expression. He doesn't even have the decency to look surprised.

"Sakura Haruno has gone from annoying and empty headed fangirl, to a Kunoichi that trains every single morning and ignores long time rivalries in favor of befriending teammates she once hated and revered in turn but didn't truly care for. She's broken ties with her family after literally breaking her father's arm. She lies on instinct and is wary of anyone smart enough to look past the impressive but not impenetrable mask she's donned. She, and her whole team, are hiding something and she's taken it on herself to keep their secret." 

Sakura feels like throwing up.

Sakura feels like punching him in the throat for ever thinking she was empty headed.

Sakura feels, mortifyingly, like hugging him for seeing how smart and capable she is now. 

"And that's about it," Shikamaru says, studying her closely.

This is her fault. She wasn't convincing enough in the shop and now everything is about to unravel in her hands. She tests the bonds of the Shadow Possession Jutsu, desperately, and finds a fraction of give. 

She doesn't let so much a flicker of hope cross her face.

"So," she says instead, anger hot and heavy and genuine on her tongue. "what has the great Shikamaru deduced then? What is the oh so important secret of Team 7?"

The genius continues looking at her, considering for several long moments.

Sakura maintains eye contact and at the same time slowly, so slowly, reaches her fingers into her sleeve and grabs the senbon she's taken to keeping tucked there, just in case, a more deadly version of the trick learned from Iruka Sensei.

She feels sick as her skin touches the metal. Shikamaru's eyes are still on her face, almost childlike in their enjoyment of what he sees as the final moves of a game and not the life and death of people she cares about. If he's figured them out she _will_ do her utmost to see those bright eyes go dull and lifeless. She will protect her team even if it means killing someone she would have once called a comrade.

Shikamaru hums, considering her question.

Sakura's fingers tighten around the senbon.

"I think that Team 7 was given a high profile assassination mission by the Hokage, an S-Rank." 

Sakura staunchly refuses to let herself sag in relief but she releases her grip on the senbon instantly. 

"Probably some foreign dignitary that will be here when the Chunin exam starts. Such as Gaara of the Sand perhaps?" He looks gleefully smug with his own clever deductions. 

Sakura blinks sharply, following his logic and nearly unable to believe her luck. He continues unaware.

"It's definitely something that they need Sasuke for because why else would he have thrown that match? They want him and Kakashi to be able to move freely while you and Naruto draw eyes during the tournament. A Genin will illicit less suspicion than anyone else, even one with skills like Sasuke's. It's a perfect set up really. Iruka must be helping with information gathering or profiling considering his work with young ninja at the academy. It explains the confrontation in the Apothecary as well. Gaara is an unstable Jinchuriki, a loose weapon, and so the Hokage has assigned the team with members that can match him in power like Naruto and also out-maneuver him with the Sharingan. They've probably loosened the bonds on the Kyuubi no Kitsune so that Naruto can match Gaara's power if things go badly, which would explain his red eyes and the instability of his Chakra." 

Sakura doesn't nod, doesn't so much as move for fear that Shikamaru will realize that he's off the mark. 

It feels too good to be true but as long as he thinks that he's got them figured out then Team 7 is, maybe not safe, but maybe not completely fucked. 

"What I don't get..." 

She can't help but tense again.

"...Is why you are so worried about me _specifically_ finding out about it?" He's watching her face so intently that Sakura actually flushes under the scrutiny. He raises an eyebrow at the red on her cheeks but graciously doesn't comment.

She can't lie. He's proven as discerning as someone with the Sharingan on that front. 

"You are good at deducing things and I made a promise to see this through," she tells him, the determination clear even in the half truths rolling off her tongue. "If we get found, out the whole thing gets a thousand times more dangerous. I won't let them down like that."

Let him think her promise was to the village and her fear was of the Gaara or the Sand Village. Let him think whatever he wants if it means she doesn't have to put the needle tucked up her sleeve through his eye. 

He nods, seemingly satisfied.

The Shadow Possession Jutsu drops and Shikamaru steps back from her. He lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck and rolls his eyes skyward. 

"Honestly Sakura, I'm a loyal ninja to the Leaf you know? I wouldn't betray a mission like this, especially an S-rank. I'm glad you aren't going around talking about it but there is no reason to be so paranoid either."

She just nods, afraid that even a quiver in her voice will upset the whole delicate balance.

There are several beats of awkward silence.

"How are the preparations going?" 

She has no idea why he's still talking to her. She wishes he would _stop talking to her_.

"Fine but we are all feeling a little apprehensive about tomorrow. Sasuke is still recovering from some pretty bad exhaustion from the second stage of the Chunin exams and Naruto is dealing with…..a lot of stress. Kakashi has his hands full juggling all of us." She doesn't quite manage to be cheerful or even friendly but he wouldn't have bought it if she did.

Once again he nods, the misdirecting truths passing whatever sense or perceptiveness allows him to read everyone with such terrifying insight.

"Well, I wish you all luck then. If you had asked me when we graduated, Team 7 would be the last I picked for a mission like this, between you and the Dead last and Sad-Boy Sasuke but-" 

Sakura buries her anger at the nicknames under a wave of determination.

"-but after this? Seeing how strong you've all gotten? How hard I had to work to figure out what was going on? To figure you out specifically? That says something. You guys are going to take this mission by storm." 

And he cocks that smirky little half smile at her and for a moment, Sakura actually smiles back.

It feels...good, being recognized by someone outside of her Team for how hard she's been trying, especially by Shikamaru who had never once looked at her as anything less than an annoyance before this. 

Even if he's completely off the mark with what's going on he can see that they've gotten stronger, that she has gotten stronger.

She lifts an arm to fiddle nearly subconsciously with a piece of pink hair that's come loose from her bun and the senbon in her sleeve jostles at the movement, pressing cold and sharp and deadly against her skin.

The satisfaction she was feeling promptly dies.

She cannot for even a moment forget the stakes here.

There are more lives than just her team’s that rest in her hands. 

"Thank you, Shikamaru," she says quietly. "Please, _please_ keep this between us."

If you don't my team might die, she doesn't say.

He hears it anyway.

"You can trust me Sakura," he says with another crooked smile.

She can't.

They look at each other for several long moments. The genius and the liar. 

"I have to finish my run now…" she points behind him down the path in the direction of the main gate.

He gestures widely, stepping aside so he's no longer blocking her way and she moves past him picking up speed quickly. His dark eyes follow her until she's out of sight.

Sakura knows two things with absolute certainty.

First, she knows that for now, Team 7 is safe, at least from Shikamaru. 

Second, she knows that in the broader scheme of Team 7's goals, not only is this little game with Shikamaru far from over, but the win she's just had is a double-edged sword. 

Everything she knows about the Nara genius spins through her mind. If Sakura had to guess she would say that Shikamaru's greatest driving force, subconscious or otherwise, is the pursuit of finding something that interests him, that _challenges_ him. He's a loyal ninja to the Leaf, a good Shinobi, but the teen is always so many steps ahead that even something as exciting as Shinobi life probably seems like the reread of a textbook he's already finished several times. 

His motivations are thus very simple and absolutely impossible to manipulate to her favor in their current scenario.

In winning, in outsmarting him and managing to keep Team 7's secrets under wraps, she's just turned them into the most interesting distraction that Shikamaru will likely have ever found.

She's guaranteed that the moment he realizes she's beaten him, he'll never give up on pursuing them if only so he can play again. 

She should probably be more worried about that than she is. Instead, she feels a heated curl of glee at the prospect. She beat Shikamaru. She, Sakura Haruno, outmaneuvered one of the greatest minds in Konoha.

Sakura is absolutely positive that this is not the last time she'll be across the metaphorical shogi board from Shikamaru Nara and she's equally positive that next time he's going to be a hundred times more challenging.

She can't wait. 

~

Sasuke comes and finds him sitting in the breezeway as the afternoon stretches towards evening like a lazy cat. 

The cool morning has turned into the kind of day characterized by sleepy, yellow heat and the distant hum of waking cicadas. A gentle breeze dispels some of the humid warmth clinging to the air. The humidity may be what allows the plant life of Konoha to grow with such wild abandon and to such towering heights but it also makes mustering energy on days like these very challenging.

Naruto is grateful for the moving air, and for the shade provided by the breezeway. 

He's going to miss the Hatake lands. In this past month they've come to be the closest he's found yet to something that feels like home.

Of course, it's not hard to be better than the shitty little shoebox apartment he lived in, alone, for most of his youth. 

The Hatake lands are still not right though. It's still not the place he can dig his toes into and set his heart down.

Sasuke's footsteps are silent but Naruto knows he's there anyway.

The awareness that's tied them together as long as Naruto can remember purrs to life as soon as the raven-haired boy slips out of the screen doors that lead into the house and pads to rest next to him. Sasuke tucks his feet tucked under him neatly even as Naruto's swing off the porch to brush against the cool green grass. They are silent for many long minutes, watching the shadows grow longer over the central lawn and the air begin to take on the golden quality of evening.

Naruto breaks the comfortable silence first.

"I sent a message to Gaara," he says without preamble.

Sasuke glances at him, one eyebrow ticking up in a silent question.

"I know I don't owe him anything just because he's another Jinchuriki but…we're about to leave for good and he's as alone as I was if not more and…" 

Sasuke waits while Naruto tries to untangle the mess of longing and anger and selfish relief and bone deep sadness he feels every time he's confronted with the other boy.

"He deserves to know that there are other options than just bein' a tool. A chance to decide his own path."

"What did you say?" Sasuke asks after a few beats.

Naruto wrings his fingers nervously. 

He may not be as smart as Sakura when it comes to these things but even he knows that what he wrote in his letter to Gaara is tactically suicide. If the boy decides to turn them in, to give the letter to Babi or Bati or whatever his Sensei's name is, or worse a Leaf Shinobi, they're as good as dead.

"I uh, told him what the Leaf did to me and how it was on purpose and also about Kurama and how I talk to him and the Seal and also about how we're running from the village and also where we intend to go just in case he wanted to come too…" he says all in one breath, hoping that maybe this way it's harder for his shocked looking teammate to be mad about any one part. 

Sasuke opens his mouth, closes it, glares out across the green lawn of the Hatake courtyard for several long seconds and then, turning his dark piercing eyes to Naruto simply says, 

"Okay."

Nartuo exhales in a rush. 

This is why he told Sasuke and not Sakura or Kakashi Sensei.

Sasuke gets it in a way that they don't that some things exist outside of strategy or cleverness or the logical choice.

He gets that some things are about the threads that bind people together even when you maybe don't want them to. 

He gets that if you give up on someone, if you don't try to help them, then whatever bad things happen to them happen because of you.

He gets that even if he's leaving what has been his home and his dream for the past 13 years, that Naruto can never be the person who doesn't care about others. 

"Sakura will kick your ass if she finds out," Sasuke warns him.

"Even worse than when I let Paakun chew up her hairbrush," Naruto agrees mournfully.

"You didn't _let_ him do anything, Dobe, you picked it up, looked at him, and said 'if I throw this as far as I can, can you still catch it?’" 

Naruto laughs, remembering. 

"Yeah, and he totally did too. Sensei's ninken are so fucking cool." 

The small private smile that Sasuke reserves for moments like these appears as he leans back on his hands and closes his eyes.

Naruto looks at his profile, the line of his nose, the curl of his hair, the nearly invisible scar at his temple from some childhood accident or other. 

The shape of his lips. 

Kurama is still and quiet but the feeling that hums in Naruto's heart is not unlike the presence of the Fox, burning and all encompassing.

See, the thing is that Naruto may not be very book smart, but he gets people. 

He can listen to someone and really understand where they are coming from, what they're feeling. The longer he spends with someone, the better he understands them, and Naruto has spent a lot of time with himself over his life. 

He knows himself pretty well. 

So he knows that he's in love with Sasuke.

Really he's known since the mission to Wave where Sasuke nearly died for him in Haku's Ice Mirrors. He was probably in love with him before that, but he realized it while holding the other boy in his arms, shaking with fear and listening to his heartbeat slow. 

It's not like... something that keeps Naruto up at night. It's just something that's a part of who he is now. 

He is 13, he has blonde hair and red eyes, he is a Jinchuriki, his parents are dead and he's in love with Sasuke Uchiha.

No reason to make a big fuss out of it as far as he can see, that would be like losing his shit every time the sun rose or he took a piss. 

And besides, he knows that Sasuke won't ever feel that way about him back.

Sasuke is a genius, capable and smart and driven and so beautiful that sometimes it hurts to look at him too closely and Naruto is just…Naruto.

He looks for a few moments longer, envious of the golden light for the way it rests against Sasuke's pale eyelids and cheeks and lips. 

He ends the moment by bumping his shoulder against the other boy. Naruto grins at him when Sasuke cracks open a dark eye to look his way.

"Wanna go start dinner early so that Sakura can't fuck up the spices in the hot pot?" He offers.

"Hell yes," Sasuke says and rises to his feet gracefully.

He offers a pale thin hand to Naruto and without hesitating Naruto reaches and grabs it. He holds it a little tighter than he needs to, a little longer. Sasuke pulls him to his feet and as the dark haired boy turns and heads towards the doors Kurama rises to the surface of Naruto's mind. The Fox sends him a mixture of fondness/teasing/eye-rolling and murmurs, "Lovesick fool."

"Yeah," Naruto agrees easily, and follows Sasuke into the house. 

~

"-and you're sure you've packed enough soldier pills?"

Kakashi watches with tired but fond amusement as Iruka wears a path in the carpet with his pacing. The Chuunin has a pen tucked and forgotten in the messy bun that's holding his long hair back and another in his tanned fingers tapping nervously against the clipboard he's holding. 

"Yes Iruka," Kakashi says, not even trying to hide the smile in his voice.

"And your grab bags and travel clothes are ready to go? And you're positive you've hidden them well enough that no one will have messed with them?"

He's already asked this question twice over the last 12 hours.

"I'm positive, Iruka," Kakashi answers anyway.

It's nice to have someone worried for them. It helps him tamp down some of his own rising panic at the fact that in approximately 6 hours he and the kids will be stepping out of the village for the last time as loyal shinobi.

The schoolteacher reads over the checklist in his hands one more time, eyebrows dipping together in concentration and stress.

Kakashi wants to smooth away the wrinkle that forms between the other man's brows.

Instead he hops to his feet and snatches the clipboard from Iruka, holding the list over his head when the Chuunin immediately tries to grab it from him.

"Kakashi! Give it _back_ ," snarls the younger man but Kakashi just grins at him from behind the mask.

"Iruka Umino you've gone over your checklist three times today, cross checked that our primary route is free of scheduled patrols four times, and reminded me and the kids no less than ten times that we need to be resting."

Iruka, who is standing on his tiptoes and reaching for the clipboard glares at Kakashi.

He is...very close. 

Kakashi can smell the scent of his own shampoo wafting off the other man from when he used Kakashi's shower last night after staying to go over last minute plans. The possessive, Inuzuka side of him rumbles in pleasure and Kakashi determinedly stamps it down.

His little crush on Iruka has become a problem over the past five days. Certainly minor compared to the other problems that Kakashi is dealing with, but a problem nonetheless.

Even before the madness of this month Kakashi had thought Iruka was interesting and handsome and clever. He had made a nearly subconscious habit of antagonizing the Chuunin when he happened across Iruka on his mission desk shifts just to enjoy the way the other man would turn red and shout at Kakashi without even a hint of the fear that nearly of their other comrades held when interacting with the infamous Copy-nin. 

But it had always just been that, a chance to fluster a pretty colleague, a passing amusement, a curiosity at a Chuunin level school teacher who seemed completely unintimidated by him. 

Now though, after the past six days of having Iruka at the compound every spare moment the school teacher could muster, things have shifted. Bumping hips with Kakashi while he made coffee in the kitchen and asking about weather conditions in the eastern sea or range for the bombs or the management of Naruto’s Chakra Decay or a million other things, has made Kakashi's previously passing, avoidable crush on Iruka a little more… present. 

Using his distracted thoughts to his advantage, Iruka snaps a low kick towards Kakashi’s stomach and as Kakashi instinctually brings an arm to block, he feints and then uses a perfectly balanced flare of Chakra to leap into the air and snatch the clipboard back.

Kakashi could have stopped him in the grand scheme of things, but he is supposed to be conserving energy and besides, he’ll cherish every opportunity he has left to watch Iruka show off some of those easily underestimated skills. 

That’s really why the crush is such a problem. More even then that Kakashi knows better by now than to invite something as vulnerable as romance into his life, Team 7 is leaving. 

They are leaving and Iruka, their spy, the greatest advantage they have in their efforts to flee the village, is staying behind. 

No matter what his little crush might have become given the space to grow, Kakashi has three kids to protect from an entire world of those who would see them behind bars or at the end of a sword. He won’t risk the gift that is another person on his side just because said person has freckles that scatter across his scarred nose like constellations fading in the first hours of dawn or eyes that flash emotion without even a whisper of subterfuge or quick crafty hands with strong tan fingers or- 

Hound tsks at his own foolish softness and locks away the useless wave of melancholic longing right along with the flutter of his heart as Iruka glares daggers at him and straightens the papers on his reclaimed clipboard.

Kakashi can’t afford any distractions right now.

“We’re ready to go, Iruka,” he says, softer than he means to.

The glare slides from Iruka’s face and his shoulders droop. Kakashi is reminded again that he’s not the only one losing something in Team 7’s defection. If anything, his losing out on a chance with the handsome man across from him doesn’t even compare to the fact that said man is letting his adoptive son leave the safety of his care to do something that could very easily get him killed.

“You’ve already talked with him?” Kakashi asks, knowing he doesn’t really need to clarify for Iruka to understand.

“Yeah,” the schoolteacher says with a bittersweet smile. “He cried like a baby. I did too, honestly. I’m going to miss him terribly but...he swore to me that leaving with you all is what he wants. I would never try and take that from him.”

Kakashi nods, not trusting that he’d say the right thing if he were to open his mouth at all. 

"And have you thought about what you'll say when you inevitably get questioned about your presence here this week?"

At this Iruka's smile turns sly, "Of course. I'll tell them that I was helping out with Naruto and Sakura's preparations for the Chuunin exams and if they push for more beyond that…"

Kakashi raises an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

"I'll just let them think that I was trying to get into your pants."

Kakashi's other eyebrow joins the first at his hairline.

Iruka is steamrolling on, seemingly unaware of the way that Kakashi's face is slowly turning red.

"You may be a weird bastard but no one can deny you're very attractive, and Izumo and Anko have been bugging me about dating for a while and-" 

Kakashi cuts him off for the sake of preserving his own sanity. 

"Right, well, that works I guess."

Dragging his thoughts out of the gutter and scraping the _multiple_ versions of ‘I'd happily let you in my pants’ off of his tongue, he instead asks, "You're sure that won't make them more suspicious of you? They'll already be looking at you as a possible co-conspirator since you're Naruto's guardian."

Iruka shrugs. 

"I'm not too worried about it. I'm a good liar and no one is actually going to believe that you would ever return any interest in me anyway so it won't be a problem."

The universe hates Kakashi. It really, really does.

"Mhm," he says, taking the mental box labeled ‘iruka feelings’ and shoving it even deeper under the metaphorical floorboards to avoid grabbing the other man's face and explaining in unspoken detail the extent to which Kakashi does, in fact, return interest. 

"You should be worrying about the kids and you anyway Kakashi, I can take care of myself."

He's right and that's why Kakashi isn't kissing him senseless at the moment.

There are a few moments of easy silence, Kakashi standing with his hands in his pocket and Iruka holding the clipboard to his chest.

"I guess…" he eventually offers, "I should go. Like you said, you all are ready to leave and me being here will just keep you from resting like you need and…" he trails off looking a little lost.

Without his say-so, Kakashi's hand reaches and gently takes a stray piece of Iruka's hair that is escaping from the where the forgotten pen had been holding it. He tucks it tenderly behind the other man's ear before slipping his hand back into his pocket where he clenches it uselessly.

Iruka is watching him with wide hazel eyes.

"Thank you," Kakashi says, unable to fully articulate how grateful he is to the brunette and knowing that even if he could he wouldn't.

Too many dangerous emotions, too much to lose.

Iruka nods and smiles softly. 

"I'll wait for one of your summons before sending any messages your way."

It's what they agreed on as the safest way to stay in contact for now, using Kakashi's ninken as couriers.

"It'll probably be a few weeks at least until I can really send one of them your way," Kakashi reiterates anyway.

The Chuunin nods again, not stepping away.

Kakashi doesn't know what the other is waiting for. 

He wishes that Iruka would just leave before he forgets to be smart.

He wishes Iruka would come with them.

A few more beats pass and Iruka finally quietly says,

"Stay safe Kakashi," and then he presses up onto his tiptoes and brushes the lightest kiss against Kakashi's masked cheek.

He turns and leaves without another word. 

Kakashi needs to take the remaining time he has to sleep, tomorrow is going to be exhausting after all. But instead, he stands sentinel, hands in his pockets and eyes locked where Iruka had stood until the shadows lengthen in the room and the scent of coffee and ink and his shampoo fade from the humid night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter that this story has gotten yet by nearly 2000 words, but the stage must be properly set for Team 7's grand exit. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy these little interaction snapshots, I had a _ton_ of fun writing them. A reminder that tags (including shipping tags, yes even for our core four) will continue to be added as the story goes. Nothing will get taken back but things will certainly grow more...complicated as the plot progresses.
> 
> Next week you can look forward to a new character POV and some rather explosive changes for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. 
> 
> I look forward to hearing y'alls thoughts and reactions! <3 
> 
> PS. If anyone is out here actually listening to the songs that each chapter is named after, this one is an absolute banger and _very_ Hellbent Relevant.


	10. No Bridges Left To Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a line that we'll cross and there's no return. There's a time and a place, no bridges left to burn.  
> -Time To Say Goodbye, Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams
> 
> Thank you as always to my editors <3

Genma considers himself a very chill person. After his years on the Lord Fourth's personal guard and all the batshit insane things he saw there, it's pretty hard to ruffle his feathers.

This morning though, this fucking morning, has him feeling particularly ruffled.

It's not easy to run a Ninja village. He knows this.

Desk Ninjas have the unenviable task of maintaining the bureaucratic monstrosity that is the Leaf. They have to handle assigning and coordinating missions and patrols and guard shifts and a dozen of other tasks that are necessary to keep Konoha secure and strong using a force of nearly five hundred active duty ninja.

It's a messy system, and mix-ups happen. He gets it.

He _sympathizes_. 

But to be put on the Graveyard shift on the Main Gate while he's also supposed to be proctoring the glorified teenage cage match that's going on later this morning? 

Genma is not fucking pleased.

He had tried to get his shift switched around but the extremely harried looking Chuunin at the mission desk had told him, in a very polite and understanding way, to suck it up. 

So now he's posted at the massive wooden doors that act as the main entrance to Konoha. He's been here since 2 am and he's gonna have to turn around from this shift, go home, shower, put on his best flak jacket (the one without the messy stitching in the back from where an Iwa nin tried to stab him in the spine last year) and then high tail it to the Hokage tower for his briefing on what to expect from the final stages of the Chuunin exams. 

He's already tired and grumpy and the sun isn't even up, and he's still got an entire day of playing nanny to a bunch of homicidal pre-teens trying to out-murder each other ahead of him. 

God he needs a _drink_ , or maybe several. 

The sound of footsteps rouses Genma from where he’s been leaning against the stone wall next to the gate. Turning to look he’s greeted with the sight of Genin Team 7 making their way towards him. They're all dressed in simple work out gear and carrying basic weapons pouches. Genma checks his watch again. Yep, still just past 5 am. 

“Kakashi!” He calls, lifting an arm in greeting. “Your poor Genin must have been puppy murders or something in a past life to deserve getting stuck with you as a teacher. What kind of dickbag Sensei drags their kids out of bed at 5 am, man?!”

Kakashi rolls his eyes at Genma as they draw nearer. 

“It’s just a team run before these two,” he drops one gloved hand each onto a pink and blonde head respectively, “have their big fights this afternoon.”

"Oh, I'm aware. I got press ganged into bein' the damned proctor," Genma says mournfully. No one said ninjas couldn't whine okay?

Kakashi gives him a sympathetic look.

One of his Genin (Sakura is her name, Genma thinks) tugs on Kakashi's arm. 

She looks pale and a little uneasy, Genma notes, all three of the teens do. Probably nerves about their big day, he reasons.

"Kakashi Sensei can we get going? I want us to get back with plenty of time to prepare" the pinkette cajoles.

Kakashi nods to the girl and then says, "Right Genma, I'll see you around." 

Something is tugging at Genma's gut. It's barely there, only the barest breath of a thought but he can't help feeling like something is…off. He's not even sure what exactly it is that caught his attention but he turns and follows with his eyes as Team 7 passes through the boundaries of the main gate. 

Naruto stops in his tracks just before he takes the final step through, staring at the ground in front of him.

Genma watches as Sasuke Uchiha, seemingly realizing that his teammate has frozen in place, reaches back and grabs the blonde boy's hand. Their eyes meet for a moment, an unspeaking intensity to their gazes that Genma doesn't understand.

That feeling of _wrongness_ in his gut grows.

The Uchiha gives a gentle tug on Naruto's hand and then releases it. Naruto stands still for a moment longer, and then steps forward, clearing the shadowed ground inside the shelter of the gate and following after the backs of Kakashi and Sakura. 

Genma watches until they disappear into the forest just beyond. 

The ninja buries a hand in his hair, rubbing at his scalp to try and ease the tension headache that's suddenly building there.

Minato had once told Genma that his greatest skills were thinking fast, talking faster, and having the best damn instincts in the elemental nations. At the time Genma had grinned and told his Hokage that it wasn't instincts, just a bastard's luck. Now though he can't help but listen to the quiet warning his gut gives that something major has just happened, something that's going to change everything.

Burying his unease Genma pulls one of his many senbons out and puts it in between his teeth.

The Chuunin he's stationed with gives him a strange look. 

Genma rolls his eyes and clicks the weapon noisily against his teeth.

Gods save him from untested Chuunin and their strange dedication to standards of conduct and appearances of normalcy. 

Obviously the other ninja was new to shinobi life if something as simple as Gemma's habit of employing the same weapons he used to kill people as an outlet for his oral fixation registered as strange.

Wait till the motherfucker meets Gai, Genma thinks somewhat smugly as he readjusts to lean comfortably against that wall again. 

Another hour or so passes with Genma entertaining himself by seeing how uneasy he can make his shift partner by twirling a senbon through his fingers. He may not be a full blown Jonin but Genma's status as a Tokubetsu Jonin and assassin is still fairly common knowledge so it's not like the Chuunin is unreasonable in his discomfort.

Most people are just better at hiding it. 

A fly buzzes through the now lightening dawn air and Genma flicks the senbon between his fingers at it.

The insect falls with both its wings precisely impaled on the needle.

"Target practice," Genma tells the wide eyed and sweating Chuunin with a smirk. 

The man actually flinches at his words and Genma rolls his eyes. Fucking amateurs.

Suddenly, the sense of foreboding that Genma had felt earlier returns with a vengeance. He pushes himself up off of the wall, looking around surreptitiously to see if he can spot anything that may be the cause of his unease.

Because he's standing, the explosion doesn't quite knock him off his feet.

The smell of acrid smoke assaults his nose and the ground vibrates with the strength of the blast as Genma instinctively drops into a crouch. All extraneous thoughts immediately vanish under the brunt of instincts honed by many formative years at war.

"Brace!" He roars at the cowering Chuunin. 

He's not sure how he knows more blasts are coming, but he's right all the same. After the first, a second closer and even louder concussion rends the morning air. At least three more ring out closely following, but luckily for Genma they are more distant. He’s already moving, not waiting for the shocked silence in the aftermath of the attack to break.

He leaps to the side of the wall near him where an old but well maintained seal is carved into the stone. With a chakra covered palm, Genma slams the center of the matrix. There is a pause before the seal glows white and releases a shrieking alarm.

Its deafening sound is picked up rapidly at two, then four, then nearly a dozen other locations across the expanse of Konoha. 

It's a sound Genma hasn't heard in more than 13 years.

The Leaf Village is under attack. 

Genma's mind is already three steps ahead. 

"Stay here!" He shouts at the Chuunin. "No one in or out! Full lockdown protocol!" 

The shell shocked newbie stares at him in blank terror. Genma doesn't wait around to see if he'll piss his pants or not. He has a post to get to.

By the time Genma reaches the Hokage tower barely five minutes later, Konoha has mobilized for a full scale enemy attack. Squadrons of shinobi are leaping to various stations throughout the village while more deploy to the surrounding forests and still more rush to the sites of the explosions to run damage control and assist the wounded. 

The alarm bells continue to rip through the air in a way that they haven't since that horrible night so many years ago.

This is not the Fox, Genma reminds himself staunchly. They don't _know_ what this is.

He leaps through the window of the top floor and in only a few moments is through the doors of the Hokage's office. 

The room is abuzz with activity. Couriers and Jonin and other ninja move in and out of the space nearly faster than the eye can follow. Five masked ninja crouch in the corners of the room near the ceiling, visible in a rare display of overt threat. The room isn't silent but not a single body makes unnecessary sound, not so much as one unnecessary word is spoken or movement made. The reports pouring into the room are immediately shuffled to various men and women who handle the details there within.

At the center of the hurricane is Hiruzen, the Lord Third. 

He's quiet and steady, face calm even as his eyes flick over each new person that enters the room.

His gaze lands on Genma and he gives an immediate nod. The assassin nods back and jogs to stand by his Hokage's side. 

Genma is here as a non-ANBU guard, a check against even the narrowest possibility of a coup from within the most deadly and secretive branch of Konoha's military.  
Genma watches the five masked ANBU in the room and though he can't see their eyes he knows they are watching him back.

His senbon is still in his mouth and Genma grins around the deadly metal. 

His adrenaline is still riding high and Raidou isn't here yet to curb his worst habits, so in ANBU field code Genma signs to a hawk-masked ANBU on his flank, _five on one, I like my odds_.

He can't see the man's expression but the barest flicker of tension moves through his muscles and his feet brace a fraction more firmly against the wall.

Genma's grin sharpens and he lets the senbon click noisily against his teeth.

"Genma." The Third's voice is smooth and composed but Genma knows him well enough to hear the current of agitation underneath. "Don't antagonize the ANBU, please. We may be at war and I'd hate for one of them to stab you in the back in the fight to come."

"I'd like to see them try, Hokage-sama." Genma grins ferally.

Shikaku Nara on the desk’s other side spares a precious second to send Genma a rather extraordinary eye roll before diving right back into simultaneously reading the three different reports he's holding. If the Hokage is the calm eye of the hurricane then the Nara is the eye wall, a furious whirl of scrolls and papers and reports being read and discarded, questions and demands and commands being heard and relayed.

A few more minutes pass of information gathering before Hiruzen speaks again, soft but still somehow the most commanding voice in the room.

"Shikaku, give me the rundown."

The Nara snaps closed the scroll he's been reading and reports. 

"Seven explosions in total, the two largest were on clan lands, two in residential districts, one at one of the lesser medical clinics, one at personnel archives and one at the foreign ninja barracks. No confirmed deaths but at least forty injuries, most severe being the archival staff who are in fairly serious condition at Konoha General. No enemy forces have been confirmed yet and no further aggression noted." 

Hirzuen taps his chin, considering the information carefully. 

Four new people step into the room before the Hokage can give any orders and while everyone present is too good of a Shinobi to show any obvious physical tell, Genma can feel the temperature in the room drop by several noticeable degrees.

These people should not be here.

Baki of the Sand and his three wards, including the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, glance about with notable unease. 

Silence holds for several long beats before Baki says, voice deep and careful "Hokage-sama, please pardon our intrusion into your office in what I’m certain are less than ideal times, but I am willing to exchange information on these attacks for the promise that my wards and I will not be harmed." 

Shikaku narrows his eyes and opens his mouth but Hiruzen cuts him off.

"Very well, I grant you quarter in these proceedings. You and your students will not be harmed by Shinobi of the Leaf." 

Baki nods and some of the anxious tension leaves his shoulders, though not all of it. 

The tense silence holds for several long beats as the Sand Jonin gathers his thoughts. The blonde Genin girl next to him shifts, fingers dancing along the edges of her battle fan and the older boy in face paint looks about the room nervously. Gaara of the Sand simply stares out a window, a nearly considerate look on his face as he studies the pillars of smoke visible through the glass.

There is something to the boy’s expression that Genma can’t help but note, some hint of...contentment?

Baki finally speaks. 

"Over the course of these Chuunin exams, the Village Hidden in the Sand and the Village Hidden in the Sound conspired to attack and destroy Konoha.”  
Genma refocuses instantly at this bombshell, teeth tightening on the needle in his mouth and killing intent blooming under his skin. He’s not the only one. Loyal Konoha shinobi all over the room drop hands to their weapons and some even take threatening steps forward. 

The blonde sand Kunoichi grips her battle fan and moves to step in front of her siblings. Baki sets a hand on her shoulder, stilling her movement and continuing his speech. 

Tension threads even more thickly through his voice and sweat beads at his temple. 

“ _However_ , clearly Otogakure has broken its concord with us in these attacks, especially considering the explosion that Gaara narrowly defended us from at our assigned barracks.” The room's mood doesn't _improve_ exactly, but no one actively attacks the Sand nin either. Baki presses on, bowing partially to the Hokage while not taking his eyes off the hostile ninja surrounding him.

He continues saying, “I choose to abandon any previously _ordered_ antagonism against Konoha and instead trust the mercy of the Leaf and her Hokage."

Genma is still pissed but also grudgingly impressed. More than just dropping an earth shattering collection of information wrapped into a few simple sentences, Baki has managed to put himself and his wards in the most advantageous position possible considering the shitty hand they were dealt. 

Genma can see how the Sand Ninja’s interpretation of events make sense. Otogakure pretends to ally with Sand, with the intent to double cross them all along. They set and detonate the explosions and then blame the attacks on Suna. Sand, upon closer scrutiny by the Leaf, would be found out to have plans to attack the village and thus would be summarily eradicated without mercy. It forces Suna into a position where they are without the advantage of surprise and outnumbered in enemy territory. Their subsequent destruction by the Leaf’s hand would take a player off the board so that Sound could expand their influence further. 

Baki, likely seeing all this, had moved before Sound could act to lay blame or fabricate evidence. He had rushed to the heart of the Leaf with the Kazekage's children to save any chance Sand had left at getting out of this mess alive.

It makes sense.

But something about it isn't sitting right with Genma.

Shikaku is also looking uncertain, and the Hokage is stroking his chin, considering.

Saratobi's brown eyes drift to Gaara of the Sand who is standing quietly next to his Sensei, still watching the column of smoke out the window. There's something about the boy that seems almost, the faintest hint, _smug_. 

Hiruzen freezes suddenly, eyes still locked on the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. He doesn't give any reaction to what Baki has said and instead commands in a voice rippling with unease, 

"Shikaku, tell me the confirmed, precise locations of the explosions one more time."

Without asking why, even though a hint of confusion twists across his face, Shikaku begins to list them off. 

"The Uchiha Compound, a park and playground on the west side shinobi residential district, a medical teaching clinic on the north side, the Hatake compound-"

Hiruzen cuts him off, lurching to his feet, his face going pale. 

"I need the status and location of Team 7, _now_." 

One of the ANBU, a Kunoichi with a mongoose mask, immediately presses her hands into the Ram sign and begins to concentrate. Several long beats of silence pass. 

"They aren't within my range, Hokage-sama," Mongoose says. 

Saratobi's hands clench on top of the desk, knuckles going white.

"I saw them just over an hour ago, Lord Third," Genma offers. "They left by the main gate to run the village perimeter as a team before Uzumaki and Haruno had to prepare for their matches today."

Hirzuen takes this information like a physical attack, slumping slightly and face twisting.

"If that were true Genma,” Shikaku says, “then the Sensor ANBU would have been able to locate them. They're either out of her range or masking their chakra. Hokage,sama, do you have reason to believe they were captured?"

Hiruzen drags an old scarred hand over his face, takes a long breath and then responds. 

"They haven't been captured. They’re going rogue."

There are several long beats of silence in the office, no one quite able to process what Sarutobi is saying. The possibility of an entire Genin team going rouge seems so far-fetched as to be nearly laughable.

Especially Team 7, containing the last loyal Uchiha, one of the deadliest Jonin in Konoha's entire history, and the gods damned vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Genma thinks of Kakashi's smiling eye that morning and the coldness in its depths that he's only now identifying in retrospect. 

He catches the barest flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye and when he turns to look the Hawk masked Anbu is gone. 

There aren't many reasons that an ANBU would leave the Hokage's side at a time like this and none of them are good.

Genma catches Shikaku's eye and then signs _Root_ to the other man as surreptitiously as possible.

Shikaku looks back at him, flabbergasted.

What? Sue Genma for being good at noticing things going on in his own village, and also having the unfortunate habit of listening in to conversations he probably isn't supposed to hear. …aaannnd occasionally breaking into the Hokage's desk and reading whatever looks interesting.

It's not his fault that he gets bored easily and that the world is technically at peace right now so there isn't that much for someone specialized in wartime assassin to actually do.

Glancing around the room again, Genma can't help but notice that Gaara of the Sand has a nearly imperceptible, tiny smile pulling across his usually blank expression as the Konoha war room stands in shock. Another tug of concern pulls at Genma's gut as he looks at the pale eyed boy, but he dismisses it. Not his circus, not his monkey, or more accurately, not his Tailed Beast. 

Hiruzen's deep voice draws Genma from his worries. Any warmth or calm has disappeared to be replaced with harsh command. 

"We have to send out a retrieval squad after Team 7 at once before they get too far beyond village limits. We can still contain this. Get me Tsume and-"

Another explosion rocks the building suddenly, this one drawn out into a low and constant rumble that sends Genma's teeth clattering together. 

Hiruzen spins and darts to the window, moving faster than someone his age should be able, looking to see what's befallen the Leaf now.

Whatever sight greets him in the light of the cold sunrise sends all the blood draining from his face.

The doors to the office are flung open again, a Sand-nin with blood on her face stumbling in closely followed by Raidou, pale and wide eyed.

The Sand Kunoichi speaks first, sounding terrified and desperate "Baki-san it's the Kazekage he's-"

Raidou speaks over her "Hokage-sama there's been a summons! It's the snake Manda, Anko is saying it's-"

"Orochimaru." Hiruzen finishes, the sadness in his voice overpowering the anger one would expect to hear from a Hokage whose village is under attack. 

"Why is Sound attacking now? I had assumed they intended to frame Suna! Why else would they plant those bombs?" Baki shouts, supporting the injured Kunoichi.

"No." Hiruzen turns from the window, face haggard. He looks more like the old man he is than Genma has ever seen him.

"Those bombs were laid by one of ours. It seems that we may have dodged the blades of one enemy," he gestures to Baki and the still bleeding Sand nin at his side, "only to take the blow from two more in our back."

Genma stares at his Hokage. Hiruzen is hiding it well, but under the thin, calm veneer he looks devastated. 

Understandably so.

Orochimaru aside (as much as you can set aside someone as terrifying and downright _fucked up_ as Orochimaru), Kakashi Hatake as a rogue ninja is something that Genma can barely begin to process.

The infamous Copy nins skill is terrifying. 

_He's_ terrifying.

Genma moved through Kakashi's orbit fairly regularly when he was on Minato's war guard and even as a teenager the man had been a force of nature.  
And that was before ANBU got a hold of him.

With an additional decade of bloody successes under his belt, the man called Hound makes Genma look like a lapdog in comparison.

And then there is the rest of Team 7. They may only be Genin but Genma knows that the pink haired Kunoichi had been top of her class and Sasuke Uchiha's name alone proves his value and potential as a powerful ninja. And then there is Naruto Uzumaki, or more succinctly, the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. 

Konoha just let the threat equivalent of a hundred million paper bombs walk out of its front gates. 

"I'll handle Orochimaru," the Lord Third says, hands braced against the desk in front of him like he needs it to keep standing. "You four ANBU are with me. Raidou, start directing our forces to find and eliminate any and all Sound Shinobi in our walls. No mercy and no prisoners. They launched an attack on our village's soil so we will see them buried under it." 

Raidou bows stiffly and, spinning on his heels, darts out of the room. Genma watches him leave and only more than a decade of fighting alongside his best friend helps him quell the fear of watching Raidou vanish to do battle against an untested and unknown force. 

"Shikaku," Hiruzen continues, "Contact Danzo. Have him help coordinate retrieval efforts for Team 7."

Genma cannot repress the curl his lip gives at the name and even stoic Shikaku's face gives a tick of displeasure.

"Hokage-sama are you sure-" the Jonin Commander starts but Hiruzen cuts him off with a voice as absolute and sharp as a whip.

"Shikaku, in case you weren't aware, the Leaf village is under attack from my former student who defected and is now an S-rank missing nin. Moreover, we are currently at risk of losing not only our entire remaining population of Sharingan users but also our Jinchuriki. Would you truly like to question my orders in bringing in a capable and time tested member of Konoha's government to rectify this crisis of immeasurable proportion? Or would you rather stand around and discuss issues long settled while Team 7 escapes and becomes a new band of S-rank missing nin that can, say, return at some point down the line to further decimate our Village as Orochimaru is doing now? Would you like to see a repeat of what the Kyuubi no Kitsune can do when turned against our people?" 

Fuck, thinks Genma. Danzo may be a conniving bastard but Sarutobi is right, they can't afford to be picky right now. 

Shikaku's lips are a thin line of agitation but he also seems to have fallen in line. 

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he says and, bowing low, leaves the Office.

Genma watches Hiruzen take a long, slow breath, steadying himself. Then the Third Hokage steps out from behind his desk and moves towards the door.

He falls in behind him immediately, steps silent against the stretching shadow his Hokage leaves in his wake. 

Gemma's stomach twists, not unlike the giant snake that sits at the heart of his village.

Minato had been right on the money all those years ago, as he so often was. Genma's instincts had been correct, everything _has_ changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is posting late y'all! Hope the fact that after 9 chapters of planning and shouting and planning going awry resulting in more shouting, the fact that Team 7 is _finally_ carrying out their defection will make you forgive me. 
> 
> I absolutely loved writing from Genma's perspective. He's easily one of my favorite minor characters in Naruto so you'll be seeing him show up more for sure. 
> 
> There won't be a chapter update next week so that I can get my plot ducks in a row and make sure I'm staying ahead of the curve! I've written up to approximately 14 right now but I'd like to stay on top of things! Boy have I got some treats coming for y'all. >:) 
> 
> Anyway, as always, I look forward to your comments and feel free to come chat with me on Tumblr at Yesiamanerd! <3<3<3


	11. Ready To Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just a kid who grew up scared enough to hold the door shut and bury my innocence. But here's a map, here's a shovel, here's my Achilles' heel. I'm all in, palms out, I'm at your mercy now and I'm ready to begin. I am strong enough to let you in.  
> \- Atlas: Eight, Sleeping at Last
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (My great loves, the most patient friends ever...)

Team 7 comes to rest in a clearing after several hours of flat sprinting. 

They've managed to put a good 50 or so miles between them and Konoha, and while sweaty and tense, Kakashi is pleased to note that none of his kids - cough, _the kids_ \- seem overly fatigued or unsteady. He double checks on Sakura, doing a quick sweep with the Sharingan but besides some leaves caught in her pink hair, she’s fine.

Naruto's also doing okay at a cursory scan, though Kakashi can still see the little flashes of discomfort cross his face even now. The disintegration of the Eight Trigrams has been speeding up over the past month. Every day the seal becomes more and more warped and ineffectual. Getting somewhere safe is now a race against the clock for Naruto's sake as much as it is for avoiding their pursuers. 

“Drink water and knock back some soldier pills,” he tells them quietly, “we’re pausing here for about ten minutes.”

The Genin nod and settle. Sasuke pulls out and distributes soldier pills while Naruto reaches over and helps pick the leaves from Sakura's hair. Kakashi jogs to a small outcropping of stones by the pool and, carefully running the Sharingan over the rocks, finds the little groove he had carved on one of them with a kunai last week. Kakashi bites at his thumb and then reaches forward and carefully wipes his blood at the invisible Warding seal placed on the stone under the mark.

The ward hums and then, recognizing Kakashi's blood, disengages and allows him to reach into the hollow now revealed in the base of the rock. He pulls out four traveller’s packs and four bundles of clothes. He examines them just to be sure but the collections of food, weapons, medical supplies and survival equipment are untouched from when he left them here last week. 

Picking up the bundles of clothing next he tosses one of each to Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. 

“Civilian clothes. Get changed,” he instructs, grabbing his own bundle and beginning to shrug out of his Jonin vest. 

Sakura and Sasuke begin to follow suit without complaint. 

Naruto....doesn’t.

He’s been uncharacteristically quiet since they stopped. He’s standing now, staring down at the Konoha headband in his hands.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asks.

Sakura looks up from where she had been unlacing her shoes and Sasuke stops with his shirt halfway up. Both watch their teammate with concern. 

"Are you guys sad?" 

Kakashi blinks. He...doesn't know how to answer that.

Neither do Sakura or Sasuke apparently because both of them stare at Naruto in silence.

"About leaving I mean?" Naruto clarifies as if the problem here is them just not getting what he's talking about. His red eyes move from one of them to the other, a little lost, a little afraid. 

Sakura recovers first, abandoning her laces to settle her arms on her bent knees, eyebrows dipping together in consideration. 

"I don't feel like I have time to be sad, personally. We still have so much to do…"

Sasuke nods his support of Sakura and then shrugs, "Personally I'm glad to be gone. There was nothing left for me in the village. Why would I be sad about a bunch of buildings and people who don't care about me?" 

Naruto listens to his team while continuing to slowly turn the headband in his hands.

Kakashi is still stuck on the question. 

Is he _sad_? He genuinely cannot remember the last time he stopped to ask himself that.

He's worried if he actually tries to answer it now it will open a floodgate that's been carefully kept shut for a very long time. 

"Do… you want to make it official?" Sasuke offers, dark eyes locked on the way Naruto traces the insignia on his hitai-ate with a finger, almost like one would trace the letters on a gravestone.

The Jinchuriki nods once slowly, still staring at the symbol of the Leaf and then a second time with more certainty as he raises his head to meet Sasuke's eyes. The raven haired boy pulls a kunai out of his weapons pouch and hands it to Naruto.

"Dead-last's go first," he says with a small, honest smile.

Naruto's mouth quirks up slightly at the teasing but that solemnity doesn’t leave his eyes. 

The Jinchuriki’s fingers tighten on the headband for a moment, clenching into a desperate fist as he stares down at what was once the proof of his loyalty to the Leaf. He squeezes his eyes shut, his shoulders tensing for several beats. He holds that pose for a long moment and then...he lets it go, breathing out long and slow and opening his eyes.

For the first time, Kakashi thinks that their red coloring actually suits him.

Naruto lifts Sasuke's kunai and, digging the tip into the metal, scores a slow and deep cut precisely across the Leaf's symbol. 

Team 7 stares at the universal symbol of a rogue ninja now resting in Naruto's hand. 

Maybe it's just Kakashi, but for him the fact that they are now officially deserters suddenly seems unavoidably real. 

He looks at Naruto and can't help but notice the flicker of pain in the boy’s eyes, the way his abdominal muscles clench visibly under his shirt. Kakashi realizes that the last of the Airokku in his seal must be snapping as he cuts the last of his ties with Konoha. The time they have to find a way to restabilize Naruto's seal just got even shorter. 

Without saying anything about the pain he’s certainly in, Naruto tosses the kunai to Sasuke who catches it easily. 

The black haired boy pulls off his headband and, without hesitating or pausing, slashes across the metal surface. Sasuke drops the scarred headband on the ground and doesn’t spare it another glance.

Sakura is already holding her hand out for the weapon when Sasuke turns to pass it to her. She places her hitai-ate on the ground, and then cocks her head and studies it for a moment. The fire in her eyes flares, burns hotter for a beat, as she reaches down and carves a deep line across the metal plate with purpose. 

The former Genin of Konoha look at each other, and then all three turn to him.

Sakura stands and, walking slowly forward as if she's worried he'll startle, holds out the kunai to him, hilt first.

"You know Sensei, you didn't say if you were sad," she says, voice soft.

For a second Kakashi thinks she's implying that he wants to go back, that she’s doubting his commitment to them. But when he looks into her eyes bracing to defend himself, he can only see understanding. 

He gives a worn and bitter smile. 

"Honestly Sakura, more than anything I'm just very, very tired." He takes the kunai from her.

Kakashi looks down at the headband in his hands for several long seconds, his own masked reflection peering back at him. 

Kakashi has hated his reflection for as long as he can remember. First, it was the sharp teeth that reminded him of his mother. Then the cheekbones and thin lips that made people whisper that he was the spitting image of the White Fang, how tragic, how shameful, did you hear what happened? After that it was simply the pain and loss of one cherished person after another that gathered at the corner of his mouth and the clench of his jaw no matter how much he tried to bury it behind a stoic facade. Every single glance at his own features has come to remind him of all the things he has lost. 

No, that Konoha has taken from him. 

Is he sad? Yes.

But not for leaving the village that made him into the monster he is now. He's sad that he didn't get out when he could still stand to see his own reflection. 

Kakashi stabs into the spiraling crest of Konoha and drags the blade along its surface. He wonders how many people have died by his hand for the village he's finally leaving. 

He wonders if all their deaths are completely worthless now.

Obito and Minato and Kushina and Rin and his father would probably think him a coward for abandoning everything they believed in. 

But he finds that he doesn't care. 

They are dead, Kakashi reminds himself tiredly, and in many ways so is he.

But the kids in front of him - no, _his kids_ \- still have a chance. They can still be saved from the system that made him Hound. 

He takes the scarred headband and throws it against a distant tree, the kunai following in the same second to pin it there. It swings gently against the bark as Team 7 looks between it and Kakashi.

"Together," the silver-haired man says quietly as he smiles at his team. 

And then he pulls down his mask.

He does it quickly, like ripping off a bandage. He tells himself that he couldn't wear it with his disguise anyway. That's why he's revealing his face to the kids. Nothing more. 

Team 7 is gaping at him.

Several long beats of silence pass. 

Naruto grins first. One hand clenched over his disintegrating seal but his smile is still genuine and warm. 

"I like your teeth Sensei, we match" the Jinchuriki offers, flashing aforementioned pointy canines at Kakashi. 

Sasuke smiles too, satisfied eyes straying from his Sensei's face to where the Konoha headband hangs limply from the tree. He hums and then says, "I really expected buck teeth." 

"I think the tan lines make up for it," Sakura responds, watching Kakashi closely. That sharp tick of calculations is still running behind her gaze, just as he's grown to expect from her. 

"We're glad you're here Sensei," she offers, quietly, honestly, and then turns to resume changing out of her shinobi clothes like Sasuke and Naruto.

Kakashi appreciates the chance to rearrange his features into something strong and unfaltering. He supposes that after everything they learned in the past month his face is a ways down the list of earth shattering revelations. 

He is still unspeakably grateful though. 

He draws a fresh kunai out of his weapons pouch, and in its polished surface he studies his own sharp jaw and slightly crooked nose and pointed Inuzuka canines. For the first time in a long time, the sight doesn't make him feel quite so dead inside. 

Kakashi looks up from his reflection just as Naruto begins to whine. 

“Oh man,” the Jinchuriki bemoans, holding up a long brown dress. He's looking at the garment like it might be hiding a venomous snake in its folds.“I think I changed my mind. My idea is dumb and we should probably just sprint the whole way instead.”

“Your idea is strategically excellent Naruto, now put on the pretty dress," Sakura says sweetly as she shrugs on a simple and loose fitting blouse. Naruto turns wide eyes and a pout towards Sasuke who just scoffs at him. 

"The puppy eyes work even less than they used to, dobe." 

“Motherfucker,” Naruto grumbles mournfully as he hangs his head.

A puff of smoke surrounds him for a few moments and then out steps a dark haired civilian woman in sensible shoes and the hated dress.

Kakashi looks over the form Naruto has chosen and is impressed. The boy has come a long way in his shapeshifting jutsu since he invented it. The woman’s form he’s taken is undeniably... busty, but otherwise she has believable proportions and her face is unremarkable. Exactly what they need to pass as simple travelers. 

Kakashi is momentarily distracted, as he often is when considering Naruto's Oiroke, by the fact that his hardheaded dead-last 13 year old student _invented_ a jutsu, something most adult ninja can't say they've done.

When he asked in the past how Naruto came up with the shapeshifting ability the boy had just shrugged and said that it came to him second nature.

"I wanted to do it so I did," he'd told Kakashi like that was just how things worked and creating entirely new and complex ways of manipulating chakra was really as simple as just _choosing_ to do so.

When Kakashi had developed Chidori at around the same age, even he hadn't just chosen to. He had worked and struggled and leaned on the expertise of Minato Sensei and it had still been one of the most difficult things he’d ever done. It's another one of the little things that makes him look at his team with a hint of wonder-flavored trepidation. He doesn't fear them, per say, if anything he wants them to grow as strong as possible.

But sometimes, when he thinks about Sasuke holding his own against Orochimaru or Sakura channeling the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune or Naruto inventing a jutsu at _ten_ , he's a little terrified. 

Team 7 was stifled at every turn in their development. They were broken down and ridiculed and neglected, and they are _still_ this strong and this dangerous.  
These kids, _his kids_ , are going to be world breakers given the chance. 

And considering what Kakashi knows of the world as it is, he's going to do everything in his power to give them that chance.

He finishes pulling on his worn farmer's shirt and, nearly flinching at the odd sensation of rough fabric over the skin of his bare cheek, Kakashi looks over his team.  
Naruto's dropped onto the ground to pull on some sensible women’s sandals while Sakura stands at his back and twists his now long, black hair into a bun. Sakura herself has expertly henged into a slightly off color version of herself, hair black instead of pink and eyes an unmemorable shade of brown. Sasuke on the other hand hasn't changed much appearance wise, but seeing him in clothes not baring the Uchiha crest is still jarring. Kakashi runs a hand over his hair, a controlled flex of chakra changing the silver strands black to match his students. 

That done, Kakashi claps his hands together to call his team’s attention. 

"Right! Backstory!"

"I'm Hiroyuki Jiro, a simple rice farmer from the Land of Waves, Naruto is my beautiful wife Nami, and Sakura and Sasuke are our kids Hiroshi and Ayaka. We are coming back from visiting Nami's parents in the Fire countryside. We, the Jiros, are completely uninteresting and have neither heard nor seen anything about a missing Jinchuriki or Uchiha or Kunoichi-in-training."

The kids nod along. They decided on this strategy weeks ago after Naruto floated the idea of using his Oiroke Jutsu to make it less obvious that they are a Genin team traveling with their Sensei. If they were to remain as Team 7, they would be memorable enough that local civilians would remember them. That level of attention could easily be used to track them, something Kakashi needed to avoid if at all possible. The kids are already familiar with the backstory Kakashi made for them. All three of them are carrying the traveling papers he took the time to fabricate, though the border of Wave and Fire is significantly less regulated than some of the other elemental nations and they probably wouldn't actually require them. 

Despite this, they didn't want to give any Konoha patrols a reason to look at them too closely.

Sasuke finishes lacing up his well-worn boots that Kakashi got for him and stands.

All three of his kids look good, in an unassuming poor civilian family way. Kakashi really hopes they are making the right choice in taking the stealth route over speed.  
He knows the whole world is going to be looking for them and their disguises, while good, aren't impenetrable.

But it's a better bet than trying to outrun their pursuit. 

Sakura may have improved leaps and bounds in the month they spent preparing, but neither she nor her teammates could maintain the speed they would need to stay ahead of the veritable army that will come after them. Quite frankly, Kakashi isn't convinced that even if he was alone he could outpace Konoha and whatever other forces muster to hunt the rogue Jinchuriki and Uchiha and the Copy-nin. 

Thus the Jiro's cover story and lots of crossed fingers as they go.

Sasuke paces around the clearing and scoops up the old hitai-ates of his team and then carries them to the base of the tree where Kakashi's headband is still suspended. Reaching up he pins the other three under it with a kunai. He stands back and examines his work, crossing his arms with a serrated smirk.

It's as clear a message as the bombs. From Team 7 with love, spelled out in explosions and kunai and broken ties.

"Kakashi Sensei, we're ready," Sakura says, carefully adjusting some of the hidden sebons tucked in her loose sleeves. 

Kakashi nods and, drawing on his photographic memory, pictures the hand signs he'd copied from a mist-nin about five years ago.

He's never actually used this Jutsu because it wasn't one of the ones approved by the Hokage but he remembers the signs and understands the theory and if he just…  
A few rapid gestures and a burst of chakra and suddenly all of the Shinobi in the clearing are surrounded by a bubble of pale light that clings to their skin for a few moments like a shawl and then slowly fades.

"This is even worse than the dress," Naruto says emphatically, wrinkling his oiroke nose. 

Kakashi can't help but agree.

He can still smell the clearing around them, wet dirt and leaves and the fading scent trails of animals, but Team 7's scent has completely vanished.

The Veiled Scent Jutsu has taken hold. 

It's a technique that he stole from a Mist Jonin that he hunted down and killed back in his Anbu days. Tracking the man down had given Hound hell because his ninken couldn't lock onto his scent trail at all. It took six, nearly impossible days of following him by sight and chakra residue alone before he'd been able to sneak up on the foreign nin. Kakashi had watched him perform the jutsu that had been hiding his scent the entire time. It was an impressive one. But not impressive enough to keep Hound from taking off his head only moments after he copied the Jutsu. 

Kakashi is certainly grateful for it now, considering it's basically the only thing between them and the teeth of the Inuzuka's ninken packs.

Naruto is right though, it's still unsettling, like his kids have suddenly gone greyscale before his eyes. 

"Well, if we're careful we should be nearly untraceable now," Kakashi says, determinedly shaking off the strangeness of the whole thing.

Naruto still has his nose wrinkled in annoyance and Sasuke is shuffling anticipatorily on his feet.

Sakura adjusts the straps of her travelers pack and shoots a look Kakashi’s way. 

They’re ready to go.

Kakashi is too. 

He pauses to spare a smile for his pupils, the first they've ever seen fully unobstructed, and then turns and leaps away into the trees, heading for the nearest eastward merchant road. 

The nearly silent passage of his team as they fall in behind him, following through the branches where he leads. 

Kakashi never looks back at the scarred headbands, gently swinging in the autumn breeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone!! Thanks for letting me take a week break, I am definitely feeling ahead of the curve again, and excited and scheming for the things to come. And my dear editors have called off their assassination attempts for the immediate future. 
> 
> This chapter is a little shorter, but still an important transition. Team 7 has made the leap. Now they (and you) have to wait and see where they will land. There are definitely some more hints dropped into this chapter on things to come plot-wise, so I look forward to hearing your predictions. 
> 
> For anyone who actually takes the time to listen to the title songs, if you want to have a _lot_ of feelings about Kakashi, Atlas: Eight is *chefs kiss*.
> 
> Next week you can look forward to a chapter I had an _absolute blast_ writing. It includes such delights as: two new perspectives and the rapidly cascading domino effect that Team 7’s defection will have on the stability of the Elemental Nations. 
> 
> Thank you as always for your comments, Kudos, kindness, and yelling. It brings me endless delight. <3


	12. Horizons Into Battlegrounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I hold on, can I hold on to you? Can reliance ease the madness when every voice says I'm worthless? I thought I would find the force from fighting but if I win alone, I'm losing. I'm turning horizons into battlegrounds. I cannot walk ahead without your guidance.  
> \- Horizons into Battlegrounds, Woodkid
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

Gaara sits on the hard floor of the quarters they've been provided by the shinobi of the Leaf, eyes closed and hands folded serenely in his lap.

His siblings and Sensei have learned not to disturb him when he's in this position.

Meditation helps curb some of the murderous impulses after all.

But the thing is, he hasn't been feeling quite so... unhinged this past week. Mother has been quiet and still. The feeling like his mind is nothing more than a steel cage rattling in his skull with the impacts of some rabid beast trying to escape its confines has gone dormant. It is just Gaara. Alone. 

It's strange and new, but not in a bad way. 

He can't remember the last time his thoughts were entirely his own.

Well, not entirely. He knows that Mother is still...here. If he quiets he can hear something almost like great rumbling breaths echoing from within his own synapses.

And now he is himself enough to realize it's…strange.

The letter that Naruto Uzumaki had written to him is still in his pocket, tucked close to his heart. The other Jinchuriki's words circle his thoughts where once there was only the screaming need for blood, blood, _blood_!

At first he had been sure the other boy was lying. Leave his village? Befriend the monster that was locked in his soul? Find his own path? 

Impossible.

But then the day of the finals had come. He’d seen the explosions that tore through the Leaf and the terror of her citizens as they scrambled to understand.  
Gaara had watched not unlike a child watching a tower of blocks fall. One part afraid of the crash, one part reveling in the destruction.

He kept waiting for Naruto and his team of foolhardy companions to be dragged through the front gates of Konoha bloody and broken, but it's been more than 12 hours and despite being confined to their quarters Gaara knows the Fox and his boy still run free.

That's another thing he has to consider. The knowledge of Naruto, the connection that hums between them not like a string but like a shared line of sight, a shared sense.

In the same place where those slow, deep breaths echo, Gaara finds that he can feel the other boy.

More than that he can tell there are…others. They are fainter than Naruto, like stars shining through the winds of a dust storm. But they are there. Five others and the knowledge of a blankness where two more should be. 

It's...not unsettling... but certainly new. 

Carefully, curiously, Gaara reaches towards the space where Mother rests.

In the past when he sought out the core of his own madness, his _pain_ , it has meant nothing but the feeling of blood soaking through his sands as the weaklings that populate his village flee like ants.

He tries to avoid it. 

He doesn't always succeed on those days when the whispers from outside his mind are crueler than the ones from within.

But Mother feels different now, so he reaches out. Careful. Quiet. A mouse creeping towards a sleeping lion.

The space in his mind in which he finds himself is large and dark. Cool sand stirs under his feet, constantly shifting and changing. The landscape around him is… inconsistent. Impermanent. 

Gaara supposes for anyone else the place would be unsettling but he can't help but feel at home.

He walks forward carefully, slowly approaching the only fixed point in the space besides himself.

The Ichibi is curled up on the cold sands, large paws folded in front of its blunt nose and single striped tail pressed against its flank. 

Gaara knows the beast can tell he's here, but for some reason it's just...not acknowledging him.

The Jinchuriki moves closer.

A rumble of annoyance drifts from the large creature, traveling more through the sands under his feet than the air over his ears. Gaara finds he's not actually afraid though. The pure malice that usually drips from the large being is simply gone.

He doesn't know why.

"Excuse me?" He finds himself asking without really meaning to.

The growling stops, the vibrating sands still under Gaara's feet, and a long sigh drifts from the tailed beast.

"What, brat?" It's voice is...quieter than Gaara is used to, less... maniac.

He isn't sure what to say. Doesn't even really know why he's here let alone why here is so different from every other time he's tried to interact with the massive _thing_ that inhabits his soul.

"You are not my mother are you?" 

The question is, again, a surprise. It's certainly a thought he's been having since the screaming in his head had quieted over the past week but he didn't think himself brave enough, or insane enough, to ask it outright. 

Naruto must have rubbed off on him more than he thought.

The massive raccoon sighs again and opens one unsettling, golden eye to look at Gaara.

The red haired boy has felt this gaze a hundred thousand times but he thinks that maybe this is the first time that the tailed beast has ever actually, fully, looked at _him_.

Has actually...seen him. 

Maybe it's the first time he's seen the Ichibi too.

"I am not," the giant creature finally answers, it's mouth full of jagged teeth and something nearing tentativeness.

"You are one of the tailed beasts. Like Naruto's friend, Kurama," the red haired sand Genin continues. 

Again, he knows all this. He's actually certain of it in a way that he hasn't been of anything but death in a long time.

The curled giant snorts at the name of the Kyuubi, murmuring something that sounds less than friendly before saying, "I am."

Gaara waits for it to say more. 

It doesn't.

He thinks about what Naruto wrote in his letter. His descriptions of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Kurama. The fondness that was audible even through his messy kanji. 

"What's your name?" Gaara tries.

The Ichibi narrows its golden eye and the sand around Gaara stirs with unease.

He should probably be afraid but for some reason, he isn't. Gaara can feel that the creature is...unsteady, in the same ways that he is.

They have both had something fundamental to the essence of their relationship shifted by a Fox and his boy.

The world and its possibilities have been rewritten.

"I am Shukaku," the massive creature finally offers.

"I'm Gaara," Gaara returns, going as far as to point at himself as if he wasn't the only other being in this space.

"I know. I've been here since you were given that name." 

The Jinchuriki and the Tailed-beast stare at each other for several more moments.

Gaara really doesn't know what else to say.

Hey, thanks for making my life a living hell for the past 13 years? Sorry that you got sealed against your will? Do you think we could run away like Naruto and Kurama did? 

Do you think I'm a monster too?

"Uh," says Shukaku breaking him from his spiral, "I can't hear everything you are thinking but you're fairly loud right now and also very much in the center of the Seal space so... sorry about all the Mother and murder stuff."

"And the insomnia?" Gaara adds. He's...angry but he doesn't really know what to do about that. Usually when he's angry he kills things. Right now though he just feels very tired and very confused.

He doesn't think anyone has ever really apologized to him before. 

"Yeah, that too." 

Gaara also doesn't think he's ever seen a spirit look guilty before, but he hasn't met many spirits so he's not sure he's reading the raccoon right. He's not even good at reading _people_ normally.

"In my defense," the One-tails huffs, "I thought you would appreciate being strong like I made you. Your stupid, prejudiced comrades knew to stay away from you that way." 

"I wasn't strong. I hurt people." 

Shukaku shrugs. 

"Isn't it all the same for you ninjas?"

Gaara doesn't answer, and instead just stares at the ground.

"I don't want to hurt people," he finally manages.

Shukaku tilts his head, considering for a long few minutes.

"You don't want to fight for your village? Don't want to kill other worthless little humans with a different symbol carved into the metal they wear just for the grand equivalent of bragging rights?" 

Gaara knows that he's being sarcastic but he just nods in agreement.

Shukaku narrows his eyes, either listening in on Gaara's thoughts or just following the thought to its logical end.

"You want to leave like Kurama's brat..."

It's not a question, probably because, like he said, he can hear much of what Gaara thinks and feels. And nearly all his thoughts and feelings had been consumed in the past twelve hours by the aching, all-encompassing desire for freedom.

Gaara nods again anyway.

"Do you?" He asks.

"Do I what?"

"Want to leave? You'd have to come too so you get a choice."

Massive, unsettling, golden eyes with black cross irises stare at him, unblinking.

"You understand that I'm the Ichibi right? The Demon of the Sandstorm? A creature of blood and dust and disaster?" 

Gaara shrugs. 

"Yes?"

"I've made your life a living hell." Shukaku looks, pissed off? Gaara frowns.

"I'm sorry I wasn't trying to make you angry. I just… I don't have anyone else and I don't want to make you sad." 

Shukaku stares, speechlessly. Something... shifts between them. 

"Huh. I think I can see where Kurama is coming from," is all he says when he finally speaks again.

Gaara doesn't really know what that means but Shukaku pushes through his confusion.

"Yes, I want to leave,” he rumbles. “Ideally I'd want to be out of this damned seal, but that's not in the cards right now considering how fucked it is."

Gaara hadn't realized there was anything wrong with his seal. He tucks that information away to ask about later. 

If the One-tails will still want to talk to him later that is. 

"So we go. No one in the village is strong enough to touch us, so we can just walk out." 

The wave of concern that emanates immediately from the giant creature at his plan shocks Gaara more than the lack of malice he's felt since the start of this interaction. Shukaku has never been _worried_ about anything before as far as Gaara knows. 

"They don't have to touch you to kill you," Shukaku growls. 

Gaara tilts his head in consideration. 

"But no one has hurt me before now? Even when Yashamaru…" 

The pain arrives like a blade when he says his dead uncle's name.

Every time he remembers still hurts like that first blood soaked breath, terror and betrayal still fresh on his tongue even after all these years. 

Gaara curls forward, arms wrapped around his stomach as the misery races through him again.

It feels more intense here in the Seal space. There is no physical or mental barrier to separate him from the screaming loss and hurt as his memories tear at him.

Something moves near him, the sand shifting but he doesn't look up until a massive tan paw wraps around his side.

It's like being wrapped in a cocoon of his sand, warm and soft and so much stronger than him and so Gaara leans into the warm and dusty skin of the paw’s pads and sobs.

He hasn't cried about Yashamaru since the night it happened. Before, every time he could feel himself slipping backwards into that earth-shattering loss, he had simply passed control over to the great and terrible rage that paced the borders of his consciousness.

Fury was safer, less _agonizing_ than the misery of being completely, utterly alone.

"But you aren't alone," comes the voice of the Ichibi, crouched over him and looking down at Gaara in his paw with eyes full of determination.

"You are bound to me until my seal fails or you die. To be Jinchuriki is to be both human and beast, intertwined by our souls and inseparable. Never alone." 

Gaara can't stop his hitching breaths or the screaming feeling of loss that is impossible to bury under blood and violence this time. 

"I thought you hated me," he manages to choke out. 

Shukaku drops his massive head in front of him onto the sand, paw still curled so that Gaara can rest against it.

"I do, or I did. But my damned older brother rattled my cage when you followed his brat into that Apothecary, and then you… you coming here and being considerate of my desires and being… kind. It's not what I have come to expect from you humans."

Gaara stares, sniffling.

"To answer your question from earlier," Shukaku turns his massive head so that golden eyes meet unsettling green, "you _are_ a monster." 

Gaara flinches but the beast keeps speaking. 

"But only in the sense that you are something all your measly villagemates will never be able to understand, something greater than them."

Gaara wipes away some of his tears. The sand drifting through the air sticks to his wet cheeks and the rough drag of it is as strange a comfort as Shukaku's own abrasive presence. 

"Isn't that bad?" He murmurs.

His father had always seemed to think so. His siblings and Baki and the rest of his village too. 

Shukaku shakes his massive head and a rush of pride/rage/aloneness/ _affection_ fills Gaara's consciousness.

"I thought for a long time it was. That I was nothing more than a beast trapped in a cage, but…if Kurama is right...than being a monster makes us, _us_."

"Jinchuriki," Gaara agrees softly, maybe beginning to understand what the one-tail is feeling. 

The massive creature nods. 

"Monster. Intertwined. Two in one."

Gaara stares up into a giant, golden eye feeling untethered and shaken to his core. 

When he continues, the Ichibi's voice is gruff but soft as he looks down at Gaara.

"I'll reach out to my siblings. We probably could escape Suna alone but with our seal the way it is…"

"You don't want to risk it," finishes Gaara.

The boy feels a curl of warmth in his chest at the fact that Shukaku is worried about him, that he doesn't want to risk Gaara getting hurt. 

He knows that at least part of that is selfish fear on the Ichibi's part, considering the ways they are bound together but still, Gaara can't remember the last time someone worried about him getting hurt. 

It's...nice.

He isn't used to nice things.

Shukaku nods at his assessment and then closes his eyes, his furry brow folding in concentration. 

There are several long beats of silence and Gaara begins to wonder if he's supposed to be saying anything or if the raccoon wants him to leave or…? He's about to open his mouth to say...something (he really doesn't think that far ahead) when Shukaku snorts out a laugh and announces, "Well good news is that I've gotten us help."

"Really?" Gaara asks. He has no idea how considering that the One-Tails didn't actually go anywhere? Or seem to talk to anyone?

"Yeah," huffs out the tailed beast, in his voice a begrudging warmth, "my bratty big sister is gonna come and help us ditch Suna. Probably about a month's wait time before she can get to us but I think we can make it that long." 

Gaara is met with the quick image in his head of a massive blue wildcat with two long tails of fire and golden eyes like embers and a short blonde woman with long ash blonde hair in a braid and black eyes. He doesn't know why but his heart gives a lurch at the sight. The woman's face is blank but still full of a sharp rage that Gaara is familiar with. A bite back, hurt them before they hurt you, kind of rage.

Gaara has...a lot of questions. 

The one that surfaces first is, "Is your big sister nice?"

He is thinking of Temari, of the way she looks at him like she's always thinking of the fastest path away from him, of how she never comes to visit him without a Kunai tucked into the folds of her clothes. 

Shukaku must pick up on his sadness because the raccoon lets out a low rumble to get his attention.

"Nah she's a complete bitch and her Jinchuriki is no better but they are gonna both love you." 

Gaara blinks back a fresh and damning prickle of tears in his eyes.

"Are you sure?" What if they don't? He thinks. What if she's scared of me like everyone else or _I hurt her_ or- 

"Hey, hey!" That's Shukaku, paw curling tighter around Gaara. "She's a Jinchuriki too, remember? None of that shit matters with her." 

Gaara nods furiously, hoping that he's right.

Something tugs on his attention from the outside world. 

"One month?" He clarifies, needing to be sure before he leaves the space and can't talk with Shukaku anymore. 

The Ichibi laughs. 

"Yes one month, but there is no _leaving_ me, kid. Any trouble we've had communicating before now is because of _my_ anger, not the structure of our fucked up seal. We are so intertwined in _it_ at this point that there is less than a single grain of sand between what is you and what is me."

The pull from outside is getting stronger but Gaara ignores it for a few seconds longer and throws himself at Shukaku, wrapping thin pale arms around the creature's massive warm snout. 

Shukaku freezes in shock and then rumbles out a deep purr.

"Strange little human." 

Gaara just nods, burying his face in rough fur for a few beats longer. The Ichibi smells like blood and heat and desert earth.

He smells safe.

The smell clings even as Gaara steps out of the Seal space and opens his eyes to find Baki kneeling in front of him, eyes narrowed and contemplative as the Jonin examines him.

"Alright there, Gaara?" The man asks. 

Gaara considers him, tilting his head in a way that he knows is unnerving. 

"Fine," he tells his guardian after a moment, hoping that the dismissal is clear enough in his tone. 

Naruto's letter and his new plans for freedom feel like they are written on his face next to his mother's mark. He really doesn't want this conversation to carry on longer than it needs to.

Baki hums his assent and then presses, "You're sure? With your Lord Father's death you aren't feeling too...upset?"

"Oh this bitch," comes Shukaku's voice in his head. It's not the echoing, drowning roar that Gaara grew used to with the tailed beast's cries for blood, but more like the Ichibi is standing right beside him commentating. It's a nice change. 

Gaara has to suppress a smile.

"I said I'm fine," he lets the rough, dangerous edge to his voice emerge, like the flash of a partially unsheathed sword or the rattle of a snake's tail.

Baki is a smart enough ninja to take the warning. He rises from the ground and takes several pointed steps back. Gaara glances to the side to see particles of his sand drifting through the air lazily. Shukaku has his own way of saying "back off" Gaara thinks, once again suppressing the urge to grin.

Baki gives him a short, quick bow.

"My apologies, Gaara. I'll leave you to your meditations. Your siblings and I are next door if you need anything." 

Gaara nods, knowing that the last thing either Baki or Kankuro or Temari want is for him to come to them "needing anything". 

Still, pretenses and all that.

Baki bows once more and then turns and leaves, sending one last narrow-eyed look Gaara's way as he steps from the room.

The Jinchuriki waits for several long beats. Once he's sure Baki isn't coming back, he reaches into his shirt and retrieves Naruto's letter. He looks at the piece of paper for a few moments, feeling a rush of gratitude and strange fondness for the boy he somehow both barely knows and knows better than his own siblings. Gaara takes a deep breath and then he clenches his fist, crushing the page. Through the gaps between his fingers he directs hundreds of grains of sand, shredding the letter meticulously until it's very essence is integrated into the contents of his gourd.

No one will know what the former Jinchuriki of the Leaf wrote to him and no one will know that Gaara plans to follow in his footsteps until it's too late to stop him.

"One month," he reminds himself. 

"One month," rumbles the voice of Shukaku. 

This time, Gaara does let the small, unfamiliar smile slip onto his face.

He feels again for that place in him where his connection to the other Jinchuriki lies. He still has five new names he needs to learn and two missing names to find out what happened to. 

One month and he and Shukaku will be free. One month and he can go find the others who won't mind that he's a monster.  
-  
Yugito knows immediately that something has happened.

She and Bee are training. 

She says training but what she means is beating the shit out of each other in the way that only two Jinchuriki can. It's good practice and it brings her some measure of peace, some release from the constant tension that is forever ratcheting under her skin. Like the feeling of fur continually rubbed the wrong way.

The awareness of her Jyuubi vibrates through her skull as she's dodging a rending tentacle from Bee. She flips backwards and drops into a crouch. 

"Hold," she says, voice quick and cold.

But Bee has already halted too, head tilted like he's listening to something she can't hear. And maybe she can't. But she has her own voice to pay attention to.

"Matatabi? What's going on?" She asks, nearly flinching at the bone rumbling purr that is rolling from the Seal space. The feeling of sharp, bloody amusement that had exploded through the mental field they share is swimming through Yugito's consciousness. 

As Yugito allows her awareness to drop backwards into the dark forest that fills the Seal space, the cat lifts her head and grins at her, sharp teeth glittering in a deeply uncharacteristic display of mirth. The cat lays where she always does, giant blue paws crossed elegantly and twin tails flicking out behind her. Her large golden eyes watch Yugito smugly. 

"Has something happened?" Yugito asks again, deeply unsettled by the smile Matatabi is directing at her.

"Things happen all the time little kitten," purrs the massive cat, "you'll have to be more specific."

"Fine then, why are you so happy?" Yugito asks, trying and failing to bury the annoyance that she feels as she warily returns the Nibi's stare.

"Oh, it's just a family matter." The beast looks at her, all smug smiles and fucking cat-that-ate-the-canary.

Yugito's very short patience snaps and she snarls up at her, "Don't play coy with me Matatabi. I can feel something's going on. Bee did too."

The cat rolls over onto her back, the chain attached to the iron collar around her neck rattles noisily before vanishing off into the darkness.

Yugito wonders if the move was intentional, a calculated reminder to her of the Nibi's bindings.

As if she would ever forget. She's no more free than the cat is.

"I'm not playing coy," Matatabi smirks, "it's exactly as I said, a _family_ matter."

Yugito blinks, realizing what the Two-tails is saying.

"Something has happened with one of the other tailed beasts?"

Whatever it is, it’s clearly not the same as last time. Last time, Yugito had been bedridden for days after the Nibi went on a rampage inside her seal, tearing at its insides with her claws and howling for lost brothers.

"Yes," answers the giant cat, contentment still radiating off her, "and you're going to _love_ it, little hellcat." 

"Spit it out." Yugito hates waiting. She's impatient by nature, reckless even, as A and the rest of the Kumo council would say.

Yugito would say it's not recklessness if nothing can fucking kill you anyway.

She wouldn't say, it's not recklessness if you don't care if it did kill you. 

"My grouchy older brother’s Jinchuriki has defected from his village, alongside his teammates and Sensei," purrs Matatabi. 

Yugito stares.

That's impossible. 

No village would let their Jinchuriki do that.

"What village could stop a Jinchuriki that truly wanted to leave though?" Counters Matatabi.

"Stay out of my head," snarls Yugito only to immediately realize how impossible that is.

The Nibi gives her a sour smile and rolls her head so the metal links of her bindings clink musically.

"Wouldn't that be a _dream_ ," the cat says bitterly. 

A feeling of anger/resentment/yearning radiates from the Nibi before the cat seems to curl further in on herself, the emotional connection cutting off as her ears flatten against her head.

Tailed Beast and Kunoichi stare at each other for several long beats.

It has always been like this between them.

Yugito knows they make a good team, the Nibi responds quickly in battle, listens to what Yugito asks of her, and stays mostly in her own space.

They have a fondness for each other similar to somewhat begrudging coworkers, but at the same time the absolute transparency that is only afforded to two beings that share the same mind.

It's the greatest gift they can offer each other to pretend that vulnerability isn't in the cards. 

The Nibi keeps to herself except when Yugito needs her power and Yugito offers her the same courtesy. Usually.

There have been times in her 25 years as a Kumo Kunoichi in which she had reached out to the Nibi. Not more than a half dozen times in total, but each as memorable as the present.. 

Be it for comfort or camaraderie or simple genuine connection, Yugito knows the feeling of burying her tear stained face into fur that is both not physically real and also more present than even the skin on her fingers. 

The cat never brings them up.

But Yugito still regrets every single time.

It's just further proof that no matter how much she tries to harden herself, how much she tries to carve herself into a tool, she's still the weak little girl needing something to love her back at her core.

She forces herself back into the present, pacing under Matatabi's watchful eyes, thinking furiously.

"This will change everything. Bee is absolutely going to tell A and once he does they'll double down on our restrictions."

The Nibi inclines her massive head in agreement. 

"You'll have even less freedom than you do now, an even shorter leash if you will." The cat shifts the chain binding her again, watching Yugito with calculating eyes.

Yugito knows the Nibi is angling for something. She's grown intimately familiar with the feeling of being manipulated over the years after all, but Matatabi is also right about what's coming when A finds out about Konoha's Jinchuriki. Damn her.

"So what?" She snaps anyway, probably just as the cat is hoping.

"What if…," the two-tails begins, all smooth words and flame filled eyes, "what if you followed the fox brat’s lead? What if you left too?" 

It's intoxicatingly tempting. Something she's longed for a million times. 

Autonomy. A chance at her own path, her own dreams.

"They'd take me apart before I reached the front gates," Yugito snarls, squashing the hope where it tries to rise in her chest.

It's not pessimism if it's true, she reminds herself. It's why she hasn't run yet. Yugito is strong, but between the other powerhouses that made Cloud their home, she wouldn't stand a chance. They'd put her down like a misbehaving dog, like a tool that cuts the hand that wields it. 

"But it's not just you," the Nibi cajoles. 

"Matatabi I know the limits of your power and it's not _enough_. If we tried to leave Bee or A would stop us." 

A flicker of rage, of annoyance, of smug _pride_ breaks into Yugito's certainty. 

She stops, turns, and looks at the cat in disbelief.

Matatabi rolls her eyes at the indignance Yugito knows is painted across her face.

"You really think I've been giving you everything I have, when I am bound by this chain around my neck? I've always known you were a foolish kitten, but honestly Yugito."

"Don't mock me!" Yugito is screaming suddenly, furious in a way she hasn't let herself vocally be since she was no more than a teen, before she had learned that obedience, that _submission_ was her only option. She feels like she's going crazy, anger and betrayal and, worst of all, _hope_ creating a volatile mixture in her gut. To have the dream of freedom dangled in front of her like this, so close but still _so out of reach_ ….

The Nibi drops so that her massive slitted eyes are only feet away from her, the fire that Yugito feels screaming in her chest reflected in the gaze of the giant feline.

"I could give you more, make you _stronger_ ," Matatabi says, the faintest hint of urgency escaping her hold on her emotions. "We could leave Kumo and with my chakra and your skill neither Bee nor A nor a whole legion of the other useless ninja of this village could stop you."

Yugito is breathing hard, trying to find the trick in the Nibi's words because there has to be a trick. Matatabi doesn't care about her and so she wouldn't give her this thing, this impossible, incredible thing, for nothing.

"You're right," the cat continues, once again answering her thoughts in a damning display of proof that no matter how badly Yugito wants them, there are no real boundaries between them. "I need something in return, two things." 

"What," Yugito bites out, clinging furiously to her control.

She's going to say no to whatever it is. She has to. They would kill her if she left. 

It doesn't matter if staying is killing her anyway.

"One, you break this chain on me. I can't access my full power or channel it into you while still bound." 

"What's to stop you from breaking out of the seal and destroying me and everything I love?" Yugito demands.

Any reason to say no. Any reason to bury the hope that is blooming in her like a spark in a haystack.

"There is nothing you love in this village," Matatabi fires back at her immediately. 

It's the truth but it still feels like a knife to hear it put so plainly.

"And I can't kill you, the seal won't let me. Even with the safeguards broken we are far too intertwined for that."

Yugito can feel no falsehood from the bond she shares with the Two-tail and so she pushes on, aware that this is insane. She has to shut this down. Considering this cannot possibly be an option.

"What's the second thing you need?" she asks anyway.

Now the Nibi pauses, watching her almost warily.

"I need you to save someone for me," the cat finally says.

That…isn't what Yugito expected. 

"I don't save people, I'm a killer. And besides who could you possibly care enough about to save?"

Matatabi's furred face twists and before the cat even answers vocally the memories hit Yugito again. One just under a year ago and one again just a few weeks past, in both Matatabi is inconsolable, howling with pain even as the seal shocks her over and over, trying to still her thrashing. The misery and mourning she could feel pouring from the tailed beast in waves is still fresh in her mind and the memory of the cries for the two names that she had never heard before still make Yugito feel like she too has lost something, or someone, precious.

The cat stares at her, and when she speaks her voice is part snarl, part tremble. 

"I care, more than you could know."

Yugito refuses to look away even as shame rises from the muddle of her emotions.

"Who is it?" She asks instead of apologizing.

"My youngest brother." 

"The One-tail? He's in Suna right? There's no way I could break through the sands’ defenses alone without support. And even if I could, we'd just be hunted down and killed." It's a coward's way out and she knows it, but she can't waltz across the elemental nations to play hero just because some other bastard has the same fucked up lot in life as her. 

Matatabi growls and suddenly Yugito is hit by the mental image of a child, red headed and small, (malnourished, her mind supplies) with eyes that are haunting, not for their strange pupillessness, but for the abject misery that Yugito can read clearly in them.

Matatabi's voice comes, the desperation breaking through the cracks more and more, 

"He's lived through hell. Both the boy and Shukaku. Their seal is warped and it rips at both sides of their bond like teeth. Please Yugito, they've started working around it, trying to heal, but Shukaku is afraid that with Kurama's bid for freedom the Sand will lock the boy up even tighter than they have until now. If he, and his seal, is put under that kind of emotional trauma, it will kill him and possibly also Shukaku."

"That's not my problem," whispers Yugito, the vision of a frightened young face filling her mind’s eye.

"What would you have done, to have someone come save you when you were as young and alone as he is?" The cat asks and it's both the gentlest and most devastatingly cruel thing she could have said.

Yugito closes her eyes and breathes through the damning wave of connection she feels to the red headed brat.

"I still couldn't get past Suna's walls or keep us ahead of pursuit." She's grasping at straws and Matatabi can sense it. The cat leans so close to her that Yugito can feel her giant whiskers brush her face.

"You don't understand, Kitten. If you do this for me, with the power I will give you, no wall, no village, no sage damned _human_ could even hope to stand in your way. You are a _Jinchuriki_." 

Yugito folds and for all the times in her life that she's given ground or submitted to someone else's wishes, this may be the first that doesn't leave a taste in her mouth like ash and failure. 

"Okay," she whispers, staring into the Two-tails eyes.

The gratefulness and near love that she sees in them is too much to bear, to hope for, and so without waiting for the Nibi to say more she reaches forward and rips the seal on the iron collar off the cat’s neck.

The chains clinck loudly one last time as they hit the ground.

Somewhere, distant like an avalanche a hundred miles away, Yugito feels her knees and palms hit the ground as an explosion of Chakra rushes through her body.  
She has grown up with the massive amounts of power that the Two-tails can give her, power that always made her unbreakable, untouchable, irreplaceable in the Cloud’s eyes.

That was nothing compared to this.

The dark forest that fills the Seal space where Matatabi had been chained is suddenly awash with roiling blue flames. 

The cat herself stands, stretching and swishing her massive two tails with pleasure.

The fire rushes around and towards Yugito and she clenches her eyes shut, terrified that she is going to be burnt alive. 

All she feels as it reaches her is warmth. All she hears is the amused, joyful purr of her beast as the giant cat steps to sit before her.

Yugito opens her eyes again. Matatabi is smiling at her, genuine and caring.

No, not caring because Yugito is alone and she will always be alone she reminds herself almost desperately.

"You're never alone," the Nibi says and her tails swish through the flames, stirring them to even greater brilliance and heat.

"Thank you," Yugito manages, because now that she has it, she can see what a gift this power is. What the Nibi has given her feels not like getting stronger, but like coming home.

"No, thank _you_ , Yugito," Matatabi is still looking at her in that impossibly gentle way and the Jinchuriki doesn't understand yet but she thinks that maybe she wants to, maybe she's willing to fight to get the chance to find out.

"Are you ready?" The Nibi continues. "We have to go now, before Bee tells A."

Yugito closes her eyes and breathes deep, the wash of the Two-tail’s chakra flooding her veins. She's afraid, she's uncertain, she's about to walk away from everything she's ever known.

She feels more alive than she has in years.

"Let's do it."

And she opens her eyes.

She's still on the ground, her breath coming fast and her body trembling as her chakra system tries to adjust to the impossible influx of energy rolling through it. 

Every sensation has been magnified tenfold, sounds and scents sharper and clearer than they've ever been. She blinks, a strange pressure in her eyes making them water. 

Bee stands across the room from her. He's watching her, not rushing to help her up like he has in the past when she's been knocked down while they were sparring.  
Instantly, Yugito knows the jig is up.

Something bubbles up from her throat without her say so, and Matatabi's voice emerges from her mouth.

"Gyuuki, you fucking snitch," the Nibi hisses.

That's new, thinks Yugito. 

Bee narrows his eyes behind the ridiculous glasses he wears.

“Easy there kitty cat. The Hachibi meant no harm, he’s just keepin’ me in the loop. Why don’t we take a pause and talk through this whole mess, huh?”

Even his usual cheerful voice sounds tenser than normal Yugito thinks, a smile pulling slightly across her face as she stands up.

Bee stiffens nearly imperceptibly, following her movements closely.

"He's right to be tense," Matatabi purrs into her mind. "Gyuuki may have more tails than me but he's still at half his strength with his seal as it is now." 

Yugito grins meanly. 

"Jeez, Yugito," calls out the other Jinchuriki. "You're sure lookin' awfully smiley. Usually you’re such a sour puss. Hope you aren’t thinkin’ of doing anything too crazy…."

Yugito studies him. The older man has stepped carefully, pointedly, to stand between her and the door. 

Her smile vanishes.

"Bee, get out of my way." 

The other doesn't answer right away, just stares at her for several long beats.

"Kid, you know this isn't something you can take back right? If you leave now, you're going to be hunted till you die." 

Yugito can't remember the last time she heard Bee’s voice that solemn.

He means this.

"I know but…." She frowns, feeling the twisting ache in her chest, the screaming need for freedom or nothing, the creeping apathy that has been slowly killing her her whole life. "I _have to_ go."

She tries to put her desperation into words because she knows, _knows_ , that now that it's a possibility he'd have to kill her to stop her from leaving.

And she's not going to let him.

She's not going to die in this fucking village.

He stares a few beats longer, searching her face. 

He must see something there because he breathes out slow and rough and then steps to the side, leaving a clear path to the door.

Yugito is hit by a wave of gratefulness for the man that trained her. She never thought that he could understand her pain. The little brother to the Hokage was beloved, afterall, he was a monster secondary to being a hero of Cloud. But he's still a Jinchuriki like her, and that's something that, charmed life or not, is untranslatable to anyone else.

Yugito walks past him, head held high. She pauses as she reaches the door. 

"Thank you Bee," she says, and then, with Matatabi's purrs and power rolling through her veins, she walks into the dark. 

Time to head West. She has a very long walk ahead of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! As promised last week, here is a chapter that could otherwise be titled; And The Dominos Start To Fall. Seriously though I really hope y'all like this one! I'm a _little_ apprehensive about it because I know that Yugito is like the definition of a background character. Fingers crossed y'all will still be interested in her perspective though. The Jinchuriki in general are going to be key players moving forward. Mostly because, (surprise, surprise to the Elemental Nations) when you treat very powerful people like nothing more than Weapons of Mass Destruction their whole life, sometimes, given the right push, they may fuck your shit up!
> 
> I decided not to write Bee's dialogue in rhyme because one, I am not a poet and it _would_ have sucked (trust me, I tried. my editor laughed at me) and two, honestly, we both agreed it's a kinda racist characterization. 
> 
> Anyway, next week you can look forward to the _much_ anticipated reaction of everyone's favorite smug genius who will be feeling _significantly_ less smug in the light of how badly he was out maneuvered. 
> 
> Very excited as always to read your thoughts! Feel free to chat with me here or on tumblr at Yesiamanerd! <3


	13. Let's Go To War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what you had in mind but here we stand on opposing sides. Let's go to war.  
> \- Go to War, Nothing More 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029  
> (If you are into Star Wars please go check out Flightless's new Clone Wars fic! It's a BLAST!)

Three days after Team 7 defects from Konoha, Shikamaru Nara calls a meeting among the remnants of what was once the Konoha Twelve.

Tenten is surprised she received an invite and even more surprised that Shikamaru feels like he has the desire _or_ the authority to drag them all together. The news of Team 7 has fundamentally changed all of their worlds, certainly, but it's still not like any of the Twelve had ever been particularly _close_. Team Guy especially had spoken less than a dozen words to a majority of the other ninja counted among Konoha’s most promising young shinobi before the Chunin Exams. 

Despite this, Tenten and her teammates find themselves being summoned to Choji Akimichi's house one chilly evening. The late summer has taken a hairpin turn towards fall this year, the days already noticeably shorter and colder than they were only a few days ago. If Tenten had been a more superstitious kunoichi she would say it felt like Team 7 had taken the last warmth of the summer with them when they left. Instead of such suppositions though, she’ll enjoy the scratchy warmth of the scarf that Lee had gotten for her during the Rinne Festival last year.

When the time for the meeting arrives the nine teens settle into the well stocked Akimichi kitchen. They all have steaming cups of tea and freshly baked dumplings placed kindly before them by an obviously anxious Choji and the space itself is bright and cozy. 

The atmosphere still feels akin to that of a funeral. Or maybe more accurately, a war council. 

Shikamaru sits at the head of the well worn kitchen table, dark circles pronounced beneath his eyes. Tenten knows that the boy was promoted to Chunin after the Sounds attack and has been working double shifts at the Hokage tower since to help sort out the mess left in the wake of Sound’s attack and Team 7’s defection. He hadn’t been the only one with a new assignment. In fact, herself, Lee, Neji, and Shino had all gained Chunin status and thus new responsibilities as well. Even those among them still considered Genin have been pulling extra weight the past 72 hours. 

She supposes that both promotions and exhaustion are side effects of being at war. 

More than his fresh Chunin vest though, more than the obvious sleeplessness that drapes over his features, there is something...new to Shikamaru. It’s something that Tenten can't quite put her finger on but makes her almost subconsciously count the weapons tucked into her belt nonetheless. 

Ino sits on Shikamaru's other side, looking absolutely wrecked. Her face is drawn and nearly ashen and her eyes are visibly swollen from crying. There's been a lot of that in the village these last couple of days. 

The Lord Third's funeral had been just this morning after all. 

Compared to his teammates, Choji can't seem to sit still. The boys forced cheerfulness is nearly grating as the teen bustles about the space, refilling tea even though no one seems to be drinking very much. 

Team 8 sits bunched together opposite Team Guy, barely a breath of space between any of them. Hinata Hyuuga is tucked up against Kiba's side and keeps blinking away tears. Kiba on the other hand looks murderous, his clawed hands tapping angrily against the table, a sharp, repetitive noise in the otherwise near silence of the kitchen. Shino rests on his other side, shoulder pressed against Kiba’s and face impassive as ever behind his dark glasses and high collar. Tenten's sharp ears can still hear the slightly agitated hum of the other Chunin's insects. 

Strange, thinks Tenten, trying to imagine cuddling with Lee or Neji and failing utterly.

She glances at her own team. They are more subtle with their discomfort but even Neji and Lee, both previously untouchable for the respective apathy and cheerfulness, are somber. 

No one has been left untouched by the last three days.

Tenten watches the room uneasily. She’s tired and uncomfortable. She isn't friends with any of these people and she doesn't really plan on changing that. The silence stretches. The Inuzuka boys tapping fingers drag on her nerves like the grind of rusted metal against bone. 

Tenten glances at Shikamaru, hoping that he'll actually, you know, _say something_ since he dragged them all to this meeting.

The dark eyed boy is still unmoving though, gaze distant. His hands are laced in front of his mouth blocking much of his expression.

Tenten fights down a sigh of annoyance and tries to school herself to patience as Guy Sensei would tell her to. She fails. 

"So why exactly are we here?" She asks the room at large. 

To be fair, it is one part genuine curiosity. Mostly though it's to get the ball rolling. She's never been one to sit in silence and quite frankly, she'd rather be practicing with one of her new storage scrolls or helping the Armory Corps with accounting for and repairing weapons used during the Chunin Exams attack or like...running laps with Guy Sensei.

Literally anything other than sitting in this very uncomfortable and morose room.

Thankfully, unfortunately, it seems her simple question is more than enough to shatter the false calm that had settled over the nine of them.  
"You tell me! There is nothing we can _do_!!" Explodes Kiba, slamming his hands down on the counter setting all the mugs of tea rattling. 

"The Third is fucking dead, half the village is all kinds of messed up by the explosions and Sound, and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura fucking vanished into thin air! I don't know why we're here cause there is _nothing we can do_ to change that." 

Hinata Hyuga flinches visibly at the sudden noise and, even though his hands are still clenched furiously on the tabletop, Kiba sends an immediately apologetic look her way. Tenten feels distantly bad for the other girl but more so she feels like she always does when faced with the Hyuga family and their methods, disgusted. 

She darts a quick searching look towards Neji, wondering if he noticed his cousin’s flinch. The other boy is distractedly examining the wraps on one of his pale hands, however, either uninterested in the proceedings or mind simply elsewhere. 

Tenten somewhat hopefully turns her gaze to Shikamaru again.

The genius is still staring into the middle distance. 

Ugh, heaven forbid that anyone else have a productive impulse in this whole mess or even the desire to be elsewhere sometime that day. 

Leave it to Tenten to explain politics to the annoying dog boy, _great_.

"Sure Kiba, you're right, things suck and there isn't a ton we can do to fix it right now, but things _are_ changing so I guess we should talk about what that means for _us_." She says, ruthlessly cramming down her annoyance behind a cheerful and patient voice.

Good Kunoichi are good peacemakers as much as they are good fighters, she reminds herself. 

It was a snippet drilled into her from her lessons with the Seduction and Infiltration unit. Tenten makes it a general rule not to remember those lessons too much. She had chosen the seduction route because it was, unfortunately, the most combat oriented of those suggestions made by her homeroom teacher when she graduated from the Academy. Medics didn't usually get to go on assassination missions afterall and Support was so not her style.

The classes had still been terrible and demeaning and more than once she was tempted to summon an entire barrage of Kunai just to shut the teacher up. Whatever, no reason to be mad about it now. She had gotten through the primer course so they'd probably leave her alone about it for a while. 

Besides, she supposes some of the manipulation tactics she had learned were useful if you were looking to avoid calling a comrade stupid to his face.

"Why is it our problem what stupid Team Traitor did?" Huffs Kiba, proving her struggle.

"Because it puts all the rest of us under greater pressure to succeed you fucking idiot." 

That's Neji, finally dropping so _delicately_ back into the conversation from whatever high horse he'd been mentally sat on until now.

Tenten blows her bangs out of her face in frustration as Kiba, shocking no one, bounds to his feet and begins snarling something loud and insulting across the table at Neji. Count on her stuck up teammate to stomp on her efforts at being nice, Tenten thinks, ignoring the Inuzuka’s shouting pointedly. It's not like she hadn't been wanting to say the same thing.

Lee leans into both she and Neji's line of sight, before either of them can, justifiably as far as Tenten is concerned, escalate the situation further. The taijutsu user holds up his hands in a placating be-nice gesture and frowns pointedly at the both of them. Once upon a time the gesture would have sent Neji spiraling further into indignant rage and Tenten probably would have ignored it completely, but the bandages that are still hidden under the other boy's green spandex have changed some things

Lee's injury made both his teammates more protective of, and more attuned to his wishes. Team Guy may not be cuddly like Team 8 but they still take care of their own. 

So Neji huffs and sits back, visibly reigning in his temper even as Kiba keeps bitching at them.

Hah, Tenten thinks meanly, bitching. Cause of the whole dog thing. 

God she wants to be anywhere but this room. 

Shikamaru Nara's voice finally cuts through the one-sided bickering like a Kunai through fog.

"All of you stop being annoying for a few seconds so I can _think_."

This time Tenten's training cannot suppress her eye roll at the gall of the other teen. Neji stiffens in annoyance and even Lee, ever the nice one, turns to look at the newly minted Chunin with a furrowed brow. Team 8 also all send looks of various degrees of indignation in the direction of the Nara.

He had called them here after all and then left them bored and uninformed. 

The boy either doesn't register the room's collective discontent or simply doesn't care. His face is the same tightness as he runs a pale hand over it before finally directing his gaze around at their collected presence.

"This whole mess is my fault."

That...is not what Tenten had expected. Shikamaru has always seemed like such a stuck up, self confident bastard to her. She can't imagine what's led him to lay claim to a disaster of the magnitude that is Team 7's fall. 

"I knew something was going on with Team 7 weeks ago," the teen continues, speaking like he's admitting to a great sin, and holy shit in some ways he is apparently. 

"I saw that their behaviors were suspicious and instead of bringing it to the attention of someone who could do something, I tried to handle it myself. I let myself get drawn into what I saw as a game and thus manipulated into blindness. Sakura Haruno outsmarted me, misdirected me, and then let me think I had found the solution all while she and the rest of 7 ducked out from under the Leaf's nose. This is my fault because I could have stopped it if I hadn't been so stuck in my own selfish interests."

Holy shit, thinks Tenten again.

"There, there Shikamaru," Lee begins with his trademark bright awkwardness "we all make mistakes and-" 

Shikamaru isn't done though, speaking right over Lee’s attempts at comfort. 

"However, every single one of you is guilty of this same, if less heavy, burden of failure."

Excuse the fuck me, thinks Tenten.

"This village called us the Konoha Twelve for a reason. We were supposed to be the new generation of defenders of the Will of Fire. Instead, we got wrapped up in our own petty dreams and grudges and dramas. We lost sight of our comrades, people we are supposed to support but also _watch the backs_ of both to keep them safe and to keep them from turning to the wrong path." he pauses, voice rippling with more audible passion than Tenten has ever seen the other teen express. 

If she wasn't so wrapped up in being scornful of the fact that Shikamaru would try and say any of this bullshit is her fault, she'd be more impressed by his oratory skills maybe.

The genius's dark eyes flash to hers and for a moment Tenten has the unsettling feeling that the boy across the room is looking directly into her thoughts.

"It's easier to think that this has nothing to do with us, that it couldn't possibly have been our fault for what they did."  
Tenten feels a little like a kid getting caught cheating in class. Then she feels really pissed about that because this upstart Nara may be smart but she's still older than him and also she doesn't answer to him and-

"In fact, it may piss you off that I even called this meeting and tried to tell you how you should feel." 

Mother _fucker_ it's unsettling that he can do that.

"But I want you all to know, from the bottom of my heart," 

Finally an _apology_ for all the shitty-

"Get used to it."

Tenten doesn't even try to suppress the snort of disbelieving frustration that emerges from her mouth at this and Kiba launches to his feet _again_ with a snarl. Neji has also risen this time, wrapped hands loose and threatening at his sides and dangerous displeasure radiating from his frame. 

Choji moves immediately to stand behind Shikamaru like a nervous bodyguard. He holds his massive hands up placatingly, his voice tense as he starts to say "Hey now everyone-"

Shikamaru, eyes filled with something a few steps left of killing intent but no less dangerous or potent, growls "Shut up, sit down, and _listen_.” 

Both Neji and Kiba drop into their seats like their strings have been cut and Tenten goes immediately from furious to shocked. She glances at Neji and her teammate looks just as surprised as she feels.

She turns her eyes back towards Shikamaru in disbelief.

When did the Nara actually grow a spine? 

"With the defection of Team 7 and the death of the Third Hokage, Lord Danzo has placed my father in charge of the reclamation of Team 7 and specifically the Jinchuriki of the Nine-tails. As Shikaku still holds his Jonin commander duties as well, I volunteered to take the role as his immediate subordinate and will thus be heading a majority of the investigation and strategies in regards to the Leafs efforts. This includes choosing my team."

This is a lot of information to process. Tenten blinks sharply, feeling a bit like she has whiplash. 

Shikamaru stands, hands braced against the table. The look he casts over all of them is both certain and challenging. 

"I'm selecting you eight as my core operatives." 

Tenten, and the rest of what remains of the Konoha Twelve _stare_ at the Nara. 

He continues, unflinching and unapologetic, "I'm not choosing you all because you're the strongest or the smartest or the best. I’m choosing you because firstly, you grew up around Team 7 and so you each know them better and hopefully understand them better than most of the other ninjas in this village could." 

Tenten would really like to point out that she barely knew the three Genin who left and the same goes for her teammates but Shikamaru is steamrolling on. 

"And secondly, even more important than any familiarity, whether you want it to be true or not, you each have something to prove in the wake of what Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke have done. You have a score to settle or your loyalty and usefulness to prove. I fully intend to make use of that." 

Tenten watches as across the table Kiba opens his mouth again, probably to argue, but Shikamaru pulls something out of his pocket and sets it on the table.

The clink of metal against stone is loud in the tense space.

It's a Konoha headband. A scarred, Konoha headband.

The nine of them stare at the defaced Hitai-ate, at the symbol of breaking one's oath of loyalty to the village.

Tenten knows what it is before Shikamaru even has to say.

"This is Sakura's headband." 

Shikamaru’s voice is quiet again, but that current of furious tension that’s been present since the moment they all walked in still runs through each syllable of his speech.

"The Inuzuka trackers found it and the rest of Team 7's headbands pinned to a tree about 30 miles outside of Konoha."

Tenten stares at the unassuming metal. The evening sun coming in through one of the big windows of the Akimichi kitchen casts red light across the forehead protector, making the slash in the metal look almost like a wound. 

For maybe the first time in 72 hours since the explosions went off things feel very, very real.

"Their message is clear enough I'd say" Shikamaru continues, fingers trailing almost subconsciously along the edge of the headband set before him, a grim smile curling across his lips for a brief moment. 

He's right, it is a clear message. Tenten just has no idea how to even start answering it. 

Apparently, no one else in the room does either as the uncomfortable silence stretches again.

Shikamaru lets them _sit_ in that uncertainty, let's the headband rest in their midst like a coiled snake. This time Tenten sees the silence for the tactic it is, the power play. It’s a reminder of Shikamaru's command over the space. 

This time she doesn't say anything to break the tension. She doesn't have any words to offer, peacemaking, rabblerousing or otherwise.

After a full minute of quiet Shikamaru speaks again, voice gentler, kinder than it's been till now.

"We've all lost something in what Team 7's done."

His eyes find Ino, "be it a former best friend," then move to Hinata and Lee "or a crush," then to Kiba and Neji, "or someone we considered a rival."

"But we are going to move forward from this. If you'll let me, I promise to never give up on this and never underestimate them again. We will get them back."

Tenten blinks and finds to her amazement that she believes Shikamaru, and even more amazingly, she wants to follow the crackling certainty in his dark gaze. Not because she had any investment in the members of Team 7 herself, but because she wants to see where it takes them. Wherever it leads will probably be much more exciting than anything the Seduction and Infiltration Corps could offer her, her mind whispers excitedly.

It's Hinata who speaks all their insecurities this time. Her voice is quiet and wavering but has a core of steel underneath, "How do we do that Shikamaru? Get them back I mean?"

Eight pairs of eyes turn to their new team leader, a consensus apparently having been made without a single spoken word. They all wait for their first step, for the first act of revenge of the shattered Konoha Twelve.

That look is back in Shikamaru's eyes as he draws a finger across Sakura's defaced headband, considering. 

If you had asked her only a week ago to describe the eyes of the dark haired genius, Tenten would have said that they were full of cloud watching and blue skies and afternoon naps. Eyes that were certainly swift and brilliant, but would never seek to amount to much.  
They've changed now though. 

The geniuses' gaze has become dangerous. It’s bladed like killing intent but somehow more focused, faster, brighter. Where once there had been only sleepy, trailing, clouds now instead crackles with lightning. Where there had been smug amusement and boredom now there is a raging storm of plans and drive like a cyclone.

The Nara finally answers Hinata's question, voice quiet but absolute, "We get them back by finding out why they left in the first place of course."

Tenten can't keep the smile from her lips. Team 7 best try and find shelter because she thinks that the wildfire they started probably isn't going to have _anything_ on the storm that Shikamaru is going to bring down on their heads.

Maybe she'll stick around to throw a few Kunai into the downpour after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears! I hope everyone is as excited about Halloween as I am! This is posting a bit early so hopefully that'll make up a bit for the plethora of grammatical sins that are gonna be found this time around. Loverinstinct is slammed with midterms at the moment so it's just me against the legions of commas and spelling errors. 
> 
> All the same, enjoy some more of the mess that's been left behind in Team 7's wake. Could arguments be made that someone else would probably get put in charge of hunting down Team 7? Absolutely. Is it _way more fun_ for me to make Shika do it? Also absolutely. 
> 
> There is a good bit of stuff referenced here that happens offscreen (ie the Thirds Death, Danzo taking the hat and the discovery of the headbands). I may write some of those scenes sometime down the line but there is a lot of ground to cover plot-wise in Hellbent as is so some things will get a bit glossed over. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy!! 
> 
> Next week you can look forward to a chapter I've had written for _more than_ two months and have had planned since this fic started. No more hints from me, but know that it's definitely one of my favorites yet. >;)
> 
> Hugs! Can't wait for your comments as always! <3


	14. In Front Of A Grave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it the fate of an artist to go from a man to be viewed as God is? I understand Ebenezer, in front of a grave wiping the frost off to reveal his name.  
> \- Apotheosis, Kai Straw
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (love as always to y'all!!!)

The news comes in from one of Kakuza's old bounty hunter buddies only three days, eight hours, and 43 minutes after Konoha realizes what's happened.

Kakuza passes the information to Pein 34 minutes later and Pein is able to step away and inform the masked leader of the Akatsuki 22 minutes after that. 

All in total, it takes less than 4 days for Obito Uchiha to hear that his former teammate, and once best friend, has defected from the Village Hidden in the Leaves with his Genin team.

A team which contains Obito's youngest living cousin and the Jinchuriki of the Nine-tails.

Considering the magnitude of this secret, less than four days is a remarkable turnaround time for a terrorist organization such as themselves to gain the information and it speaks magnitudes for the spy network that the Akatsuki have built over the years. 

But it's still not quick enough for Obito. Not for the extent to which this news changes things.

The masked leader of the Akatsuki sits in the dark of his room, fingers laced in front of his porcelain masked face, as he stares into the middle distance. A lesser man would probably think it good that their quarry is now unguarded by the walls and warriors of the greatest shinobi village in the world, but Obito had anything lesser burned out from under his skin years ago. Only those parts of him that are ruthless and clever, and so scarred as to be impenetrable, remain.

The defection of Team 7 is not good news.

It's fucking terrible news.

Firstly and much less importantly, because it makes Itachi Uchiha harder to control. 

Obito knows the other Uchiha is a spy. Of course he fucking knows, he's not an idiot and Itachi may be a genius but Obito knew the boy when he was still in diapers and Obito also knew Madara and even between these two geniuses Obito is still the greatest mind to be born into the Uchiha likely ever. 

Itachi is a child. A traumatized, easily manipulated, child. But an extremely powerful child nonetheless, and the most convenient piece that Obito had on the board for maintaining his control over Itachi has just walked out from under his thumb like a particularly tenacious ant. 

If Sasuke dies (which it's becoming more likely by the minute considering he's gone rogue and you don't need a live Uchiha to take the Sharingan) Itachi would lose any commitment to Akatsuki, even as fabricated as it is. Furthermore, he'll probably lose his damned mind. 

His clan, so delicate, so prone to madness, Obito thinks as he stares unseeing at the opposite wall, his porcelain mask cold against his steepled fingers. 

Even more pressing than the Itachi issue is the Kyuubi. 

The villages have done a favor to Obito in their treatment of the Jinchuriki. In keeping the men and women who act as vessels for the bijuu almost universally isolated, undertrained and mistreated they've made them weak. Obito thinks that if the Three-tails and the Four-tails had any kind of formalized specialized training to use their Bijuu powers, the Akatsuki teams that took them down would have been screwed.

In general, Obito is fairly certain that a Jinchuriki allowed to grow into their powers fully would be nigh untouchable by most ninja, even a group like the Akatsuki. He's lucky the villages think the same and thus keep their vessels neutered and leashed.

It makes them easy prey.

Fucking Kakashi has thrown a paper bomb into that delicate system though.

Jinchuriki never go rogue. Some may go on solo missions like the Yonbi Jinchuriki, but they never completely emancipate themselves from their village.

But Naruto has.

Obito doesn't know why they are running. He genuinely cannot think of anything that would make the Kakashi he had known abandon the Leaf like that.

The Kakashi he knew had killed Rin for the village.

He'd let Obito die for the village.

The scarred man’s hands tighten as rage burns through him in a wave at the dangerous thoughts.

He knows better than to think about these things if he's going to hold the insanity that plagues his clan at bay, but Kakashi has _defected_ with a little gaggle of snot nosed kids when he wouldn't even consider disobeying an order for his own fucking team. 

Obito is going to put his fist through the other man’s rib cage someday soon and _smile_ while he does it.

He gathers his splintering thoughts and ties the edges of his fraying consciousness back together with well-practiced brutality.

He has more important things to do than lose his mind.

A quiet knock comes on the door and he offers a hum of ascent.

Only one person knows he is worth speaking to outside the teeth-rotting bubbly guise of Tobi and also has the guts to actually do so.

Konan steps into his room, the golden light from the hallway behind her spilling in through the doorframe and lighting a halo behind her blue hair. Even without her paper wings the woman carries an angelic air, terrifying and otherworldly and unapologetically deadly. 

"Madara…" she acknowledges quietly. 

"More Obito than him at the moment actually," the scarred man responds, instantly regretting the strain that bleeds into his voice against his will.

Konan nods slowly, watching him carefully with her cold golden eyes as she closes the door behind her.

She knows better than to trust their comrades’ honor when it comes to eavesdropping.

Obito looks at Konan consideringly. 

They are not friends. All of Obito’s friends died or abandoned him. 

It had been in a moment of weakness that he told Konan who he really is, his shriveled humanity rearing its ugly head and reaching desperately for some bond to grasp.

But honestly, Obito has never really regretted it. Vulnerability it may be, but he depends on her. 

She's become one of the only people in Akatsuki that he fully trusts, that he actually believes will be at his side when he carries out the Eye of the Moon plan. She's lost as much as he has after all and can see where others can't how broken the world is. 

"Nagato told me about the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." Her voice always reminds him of rain running across stone, steady and cold and smooth. 

He nods, not moving his hands from where they are pressed against his mouth. He still has on the mask but the gesture in itself is more expressive than he usually lets himself be.

"His teacher, Hatake. You were once his teammate right?" 

He doesn't nod this time but also fails to suppress the ripple of furious tension down his spine.

She easily recognizes it for the confirmation it is.

"Is he as much of a problem as his bingo book entry would make him out to be?" 

The fallen Uchiha considers for a few beats before speaking. 

"Let me return your question with a question, do you know anything about the politics surrounding Sharingan use in the Hidden Leaf Village?"

Konan doesn't quite glare at him, but her icy eyes speak her annoyance loudly enough. 

Konan is smarter than several of his less discerning rogues combined and easily many times as perceptive, but Obito knows damn well that the orphan-turned-revolutionary barely had time to learn her Kanji, let alone the complex politics of foreign nations. Konan knows he knows that and thus immediately understands that she's being mocked. 

The corner of Obito's mouth ticks up under his mask at her anger. 

He enjoys pressing the other shinobi's buttons. It's a fun game to see if there's a point at which she'll snap and put a paper shuriken through his throat. 

Or try to, at least.

You can't fault a man teetering on the edge of insanity for enjoying the simple things in life, he thinks a little hysterically. 

Choosing to save his games for a day when he's a little less likely to let Konan actually kill him if she were to try, Obito begins to explain in the tone of someone quoting something heard a million times. 

"All Sharingan users in the Leaf are placed under a gag order in specifics to the copied jutsu that they can use. Because of the sensitive and delicate balance of power between the major elemental nations it is, at times, too great an insult politically to allow someone from the Leaf to use something like a special clan technique of someone from Wave or a Jutsu stolen from a respected Jonin of Stone." 

Konan listens with raised eyebrows as he continues.

"Underwhelmingly, It’s rather like infringing on someone's intellectual property rights. Generally, Sharingan users are limited to Jutsu copied from their own village or from those missing ninja that are too unimportant for their own villages to give a shit. There's of course more complications that go into it but as a rule of thumb you can assume that a Sharingan user playing by the rules can only use about a third of the jutsu they've copied."

Konan nods slowly, clearly processing the information.

Deciding to poke the boar again Obito says snidely, "Hadn't you ever wondered why he's called 'the man who's copied a thousand jutsu' but his most used techniques only list a couple hundred known Ninjutsu and Genjutsu?" 

Konan is actually glaring openly now and a piece of paper unfolds from the skin of her wrist to twirl around her hand in a delicate and threatening dance.

"Thank you for the impromptu lesson _Obito_. From Jiraya to you, it seems I'll never be free of Konoha men talking to me like I'm stupid. Now, is Hatake going to be a problem or not?" The paper folds and unfolds itself into a lethal point several times.

You're going to get yourself killed, says a voice in Obito’s head. It sounds like Kakashi, all annoyance and disdain, and Obito hates it and hates him so much that he nearly puts a Kunai through his own eye into his skull just to shut it up. 

The pause doesn't go unnoticed once again. 

Konan has gone from glaring at him, clearly furious, to having that same quiet mournful look with which she looks at Nagato.

Obito refuses to acknowledge that he engenders the same sympathy as a dying man.

“He will absolutely be a problem and if he cares enough for those brat Genin on his team to drag them with him while he’s going rogue. He’ll probably teach them what he knows, at the very least to keep them from being dead weight. And with no more gag order constraining what he can and can’t use… It could make them very hard to kill very quickly, or, for our particular interests, hard to subdue.”

“So what do we do about it?” 

He appreciates her pragmatism in moments like these.

“Recall Hidan and Kakuzu from Kumo. We can retrieve the Two-Tail at a later date. Getting to the Kyuubi soon is much more pressing. Have Kisame keep Itachi busy, and keep a close eye on him as much as possible. This is a severe enough loss on the part of the Leaf that they may try and return their last loyal Uchiha to the fold like a security blanket.”

Obito cocks his head, imagining a blanket knitted out of the Sharingan eyes. He can’t quite suppress a smile at the image. 

Konan can’t see his face behind the porcelain but the mournfulness she wears wars visibly with caution. 

She can probably see that Obitio isn’t the most… stable right now.

As if he ever really is though.

At this point Obito is dead, Madara is dead and Tobi never existed.

The man who wears the orange spiral mask and calls himself the leader of the Akatsuki is barely a man at all. After everything that was taken from him, that he cut away himself, he’s more idea than anything human.

“Tell Kisame,” he continues, “that if Itachi looks like he’s going to run back to the Leaf that I’d rather see him dead than across the battlefield from us."

Konan inclines her head in acknowledgement.

"You're sure Kisame could kill him if it came to that?"

Obito huffs out a bitter laugh.

"Itachi may be a genius but Kisame is a monster. I'm not sure even _I_ could take him head to head." 

There are several beats of silence as Konan considers him with those unsettling golden eyes. 

"I meant, would Kisame follow orders and kill Itachi. They are friends, Obito. Kisame practically put the boy back together after he massacred his clan. I'm not sure his loyalty to our cause is strong enough to break that bond."

She's right, damn it all.

Usually nothing gets past Obito's analysis like that.

But anything having to do with Kakashi has always been a weak point for him. 

The other man gets under his skin like a splinter, or maybe a particularly devastating poison. 

Refocus. Hold it all together, he tells himself.

"Fine. Put Zetsu on Itachi," he orders Konan, "Amaterasu isn't the best match for him but I trust his resilience if the Uchiha needs to be put down." 

The Kunoichi nods. 

"And Kisame?" 

"Have him reach out to whatever contacts he still has in Mist. I'm not certain, but of all the directions for Hatake to run I'm nearly positive it will be East." 

Konan purses her lips.

"The Leaf seems to think that he's heading towards Sound considering Orochimaru's attack on Konoha in the wake of Hatake's defection. Supposedly they have a concord of sorts." 

Obito doesn't manage to stifle a scoff at this notion.

"As if Kakashi would ever willingly be in the room with one of the Sanin, especially Orochimaru, for longer than it takes him to pull a Kunai on the man."

Konan arches a thin, pierced brow. She is clearly waiting for an explanation but Obito doesn't plan on giving one.

He doesn't need to explain his rationale to her, and besides he doesn't really want to look further than necessary at how well he remembers the way that Kakashi had glowered at the then still loyal Konoha Jonin the time that Team Minato had met the unsettling man.

His silver haired rival had all but snarled at Orochimaru every time he looked towards him and Rin, especially him, he seems to recall.

He can't help but remember the way his skin had crawled under the gaze of the Snake Sanin... and how his fear had eased when Kakashi stepped in front of him.

It's a memory like a puncture wound, slowly seeping out his iron hold on his calculating patience, his hold on his temper.

Like cauterization, Obito pulls up the well worn memory of Kakashi's dripping red fist held through Rin's thin ribcage, of the smell of the chidori's ozone intermingling with the iron of blood, the sound of a thousand birds and the last rattling breath of one of the only people who ever gave a single fuck about him. 

Someday soon, Rin's death, Minato and Kushina choking on their blood in front of their infant son, the suffocating darkness and agony of dying under a ton of rocks while the only person he's ever loved watched, it's all going to go away. It'll be nothing but a bad dream. 

He's going to fix everything. He's going to put what's broken back together.

And before that he's going to ensure that he gets to watch Kakashi Hatake bleed out under his hands.

"You have your instructions. Tell Pein and have him inform the others."

Konan looks at him silently a few moments longer.

Obito wonders what he'll do if she doesn't obey.

Perhaps he'll kill her.

What's one more broken piece when he plans to undo the world anyway. 

Her eyes drop at last and she nods. 

"Yes, Madara-san." 

He doesn't correct her this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! Election stress has me climbing the fucking walls so I’m posting early again as a distraction! :))
> 
> Like I said last week, this is a chapter I’ve had written for a good bit! I am _so_ interested in Obito as a character so you’ll be seeing a lot of him moving forward, bless his stupid, tramuatized, bat-shit-crazy heart. 
> 
> Next week you can expect a time skip, a check in with the wayward Team 7, and this author being really hype about a very underexplored aspect of Naruto world building. 
> 
> Lots of love to you all! I hope you are being kind to yourselves in these stressful times! Super excited to read your comments as always and feel free to come chat with me on tumblr at Yesiamanerd! <3
> 
> PS. I know I mentioned it last week, but Flightless has a new chapter out for his fic! If you like Star Wars go take a peek!


	15. Thousand Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With your hounds and wolves carry me to the sea. Give your thousand wounds to me. Maybe we're water and this is all salt. Though it never happened, it tears us apart.  
> \- Your Love is an Island, Talos 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (I owe you both my life)

They reach Uzushiogakure just as the sun is setting. The air smells of the ocean and the dry coastal grasses they've been tramping through for nearly an hour now. Naruto dropped his Oiroke a while back and so the blood red of the falling light catches on his golden hair with a glow like burning embers. 

Sasuke watches the blonde out of the corner of his eye.

Kakashi had warned Team 7 that what would greet them at the ruins of the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools wouldn’t be pretty. For Naruto’s sake, Sasuke can’t help but hope that time has softened some of the sharp edges of what was done to the birthplace of Naruto’s clan. 

So far, the rolling, sandy hills of O’Uzu had shown them nothing but grass waving peacefully in the ocean breeze and miles of glittering sea on all sides. It is very different from the massive forests of Fire country, but Sasuke doesn’t mind the islands rolling hills or high wheeling gulls. He would probably mind them even _less_ if his fucking _feet_ didn’t hurt so much though. 

Team 7 is _tired_. 

They’ve been traveling as quickly as possible as a group posing as civilians can without raising suspicion, which Sasuke quickly discovered was, in some ways, more tiring than tree-running. He’s fairly certain he’s about to wear through the bottom of his ninja sandals with the three weeks worth of gods damned _fast walking_ they’ve had to do. 

They've managed to avoid the eyes of any of the hunting parties that Konoha had sent out as far as Kakashi has told them. There had been a few close calls, a few duck-their-heads and hope for the best moments that Sasuke is still not sure how they managed to get through, but luck has been on their side for _once_. 

The boat ride to reach the island that housed the Hidden Whirlpool Village had been a nice change of pace but still, they are all exhausted. Sasuke supposes that being on the run, and specifically the stress of expecting any moment to bring their discovery and rapid execution, would do that. 

(He refuses to think about how not all of them would be killed if they are discovered, refusing the truth that he and Kakashi and Sakura would die on the ends of kunai but Naruto, sun-kissed, heart-too-big-for-his-chest, _Jinchuriki_ Naruto, would be dragged back to whoever caught him in irons and kept in like a dog until someone else could be found to house Kurama.)

Between the stress and the sleeplessness and the _walking_ , the moment they are somewhere safe Sasuke is ready to burn ‘Hiroshi Jiro’’s clothes to cinders and then go to sleep for a week straight.

His brooding is interrupted as the four of them finally crest the hill leading to where Uzushio lays. 

Sasuke is immediately hit by two distinct things.

The first is that the Village spread out on the coast beneath them is completely and utterly destroyed. 

The second is that despite the violence that was so obviously done to it, Uzushio is still incredibly, impossibly, beautiful.

It was clearly smaller than Konoha while it still lived, maybe a third of the size at most. Even from the quarter mile away where they stand on the hill, the village is visually broken and burned and ravaged, but the shape of what it once was is clear even now. The ruins are situated between the rough waves of the ocean and the rapidly elevating sides of a mountain. The broken down docks extend out into the water farther than Sasuke would think reasonable on such a turbulent ocean. 

Canals draw the ocean further up into the village, all the way to where the elevation of the mountain makes it physically impossible. Once the canals end, roads and buildings clamber up the sides of the peak in a display of architectural recklessness that fits exactly what Sasuke would expect of people related to his headstrong teammate. 

The sunset light glints off broken roofs of orange tile and walls of bleached white stone. Even from here, Sasuke can see the Whirlpool symbol that Naruto carried so proudly for most of his life carved throughout the village, carved on now toppled columns of granite and the floors of tiled courtyards and scorched arches. Wildlife has reclaimed some of the village over the nearly two decades it's been abandoned, giving the place an unsettling but peaceful feeling. 

Like a graveyard. 

Sasuke glances from the beautiful, broken village to the last Uzumaki standing next to him.

His teammates face isn’t angry, per say, or even sad. Naruto just looks overwhelmingly tired. 

“There were thousands of people who built their lives here,” the Jinchuriki says quietly. “This was their _home_ and someone decided to do this to it for politics and power."

None of the rest of Team 7 responds, but Sakura reaches out and grabs his hand. 

Naruto doesn’t react to the contact overtly, but Sasuke can still see the mist of tears rising in his eyes, their sharp red an almost perfect mirror to the color of the sunset-dyed canals stretching like veins through his dead village. 

“I’m going to change things,” Naruto says after several more beats of heavy silence, still staring out over the decimated village. “This is never going to happen again while I’m alive. No one will lose their homes or their lives over something as fucking stupid as fucking _politics_.”

He releases Sakura's hand before any of them can come up with an adequate response and begins making his way down the grassy hill towards the ruins of what was once Uzushio's front gates. Even with the other boy’s back to him, Sasuke can still see the way he wipes his sleeve across his eyes, the way his shoulders shake under the weight of everything he’s lost. 

The rest of Team 7 waits for a few quiet moments, giving their teammate some space, before following after him. Sakura draws alongside Kakashi as they make their way down the hill.  
"So what exactly are we looking for Sensei?"

Kakashi rubs a hand along the stubble that's been growing on his jaw persistently for the past week. It’s no longer the shock it had been the first week to see Kakashi without his mask but it is still… strange. 

"Honestly I'm not exactly clear…," the Jonin replies absently.

Sakura rolls her eyes skyward. 

"Well run us through what you are sure of anyway so that we can have a better chance of being able to help. I would rather not spend another night outside if we can manage it."

Sasuke is in full agreement. It's been getting cold most nights now and the wind coming off the ocean has a wet chill to it that is rapidly seeping through his stupid civilian clothes. 

"Well, Naruto's mother, Kushina, mentioned to me in passing once that she had memory of a series of small caves here in Whirlpool. I believe she said they were used to house part of the city's massive Fūinjutsu library. Iruka was able to find confirmation they existed in the Sadamines personal files on Whirlpool, though not their specific location. Ideally we find them… somehow, and have a place at least partially hidden and partially habitable for a few weeks until things die down some and we figure out where we go next." 

"Sensei, the Mist destroyed Whirlpool specifically for it's Fūinjutsu knowledge, wouldn't they have gone after all the archives?" Sakura asks, pink brows dipping together in concern.

"Supposedly they were built to withstand typhoons, so I was hoping they managed to make it through an invasion."

"Gambling our lives on hope," Sasuke can’t keep himself from mumbling bitterly. 

It's loud enough for Kakashi's sharp ears to catch. Sasuke sees his Sensei flinch nearly imperceptibly at the comment. 

Shit, thinks Sasuke. 

Before Sasuke can muster an apology they reach the destroyed front gates where Naruto stands waiting for them.

There are… bodies at the gate. Well, not bodies exactly. Two decades of exposure have turned them all into pale white skeletons, laid out in a delicate freeze of their massacre. There’s not an overwhelming number but enough and in great enough disarray that Sasuke can't really tell at first glance how many ninja perished here. 

Concern over the archive forgotten, all of them watch Naruto's reaction carefully.

The Jinchuriki isn't looking at the bodies, but is instead turning a rusted Uzushio headband plate over and over in one hand while he clutches at his seal with the other. 

"You were talkin' about the archives?" He asks after several long beats of silence.

Kakashi hums in agreement, ignoring the reminder that Naruto's hearing has continued to grow sharper as the seal disintegrates, and then when the Uzumaki doesn't add anything clarifies, 

"Your mom seemed to remember that the archives were both hidden and also sealed somehow, so my _hope_ is that they were left at least partly intact when the village fell. If we're very lucky we can access them and have a safe and completely unknown place to camp out for a bit. Maybe we could even find some scrolls on Sealing that would help us repair the Eight Trigrams."

Naruto nods at this and then says, "I know where the archives are." 

Kakashi stares at him.

"Y...you do?" 

Naruto cocks his head and his eyes flash slightly and when he speaks again his voice is the smoky rumble they've all grown familiar with by now. 

"Correction, _I know_ where the archives are, and also how to open them, or had you thought of that being something you needed to worry about at all, Wolf?" Kurama asks snidely.

Kakashi goes from staring in bafflement at Naruto to glaring at the Kyuubi. 

"I was planning on crossing that bridge when we got to it," he snaps back immediately.

The Kyuubi's voice goes gleefully cruel for a moment as he responds.

"You don’t have the best track record with bridges. The Kannabi bridge mission had some pretty rough patches." 

Sasuke doesn't know what that means, but the way that Kakashi goes deadly still makes it clear that _he_ certainly does.

Sasuke's eyes flick down to find his Sensei's hand on his weapons pouch. He's not even sure if Kakashi is conscious of the movement.

The Fox’s grin is wide and mean and he cocks his head at Kakashi as if daring the livid human to do something.

Sasuke had heard about what happened in the Apothecary, and he can't help but wonder if picking fights with people and monsters that could mop the floor with Sasuke is what passes as entertainment for the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Or maybe the Fox just really doesn't like Kakashi.

And then Kurama’s smile disappears from Naruto’s face and he twitches as if stung. The Kyubbi blinks, frowns, and then murmurs begrudgingly "alright, alright kit."

His bright crimson gaze meets Kakashi's icy cold one again. 

"The kid says to apologize. You didn't deserve that and I shouldn't use Kushina's knowledge against you. I'm sorry for my _insensitivity_ , Wolf." His voice is flat and each word has the general tone of a petulant child reciting their admonishment in front of the class.

Kakashi's gaze doesn't warm, but his hand moves off his weapons pouch.

"Mock his memory again and I'll find a way to make you hurt, Kurama." 

The Fox’s eyebrows shoot up, as do Sasuke's and Sakura’s. 

Kakashi seems to realize that he's used the Fox’s real name several seconds after he says it. He grimaces as if it left a bad taste in his mouth and then without saying anything more steps through Uzushio's front gates and stalks away.

Kurama watches him go, head tilted slightly and a curious look on his face.

Sasuke steps to the Fox's side and, fervently deciding to ignore whatever that whole confrontation was, asks, "Naruto's okay?" 

Kurama glances at him and then at Sakura who falls into step on his other side. The strange look on his face grows more pronounced for a moment and then is quickly wiped away.

"He's been better, Uchiha, but he's not dying. The seal isn't doing well and being in this place doesn't help."

Sakura tilts her head curiously.

“Is the seal hurting you too, Kurama?” 

The Fox shrugs.

"Less than it's hurting him."

Sasuke finds himself walking faster.

Up close, Uzushio is even more beautiful than it was from the bluffs above. The streets are paved with smooth, flat, grey and white granite slabs in long, even rows, and even though cracks or scorch marks mar their surface every couple of feet, it's easy to imagine these roads bustling with life. The buildings they pass are tall and crammed together, shoulder to shoulder and cheek to cheek, with white washed stucco walls and orange tiled roofs. What look to be long abandoned shops, restaurants and offices fill their ground floors and empty residences take up the upper stories. 

Every building looks beaten and worn; walls shattered and scored from violence, wooden doors and shutters burned by fire or eroded by salty ocean spray. When Uzushio lived, these buildings must have been as lively and bright as Naruto himself, but now they look down on Team 7 like an army of crumbling tombstones, mournfully observing the passage of the last Uzumaki. 

As they make their way deeper into the city Sasuke can't help but stare at what was once a tea shop. It has folded in on itself where the front supports were blown completely out. In the rubble Sasuke's sharp eyes catch the glimmer of porcelain white. He wonders if it's a shattered teacup or a bone that lays under the ruins.

Sakura has paused ahead of him, looking with interest at a small shrine set back from the road, tucked against the side of the destroyed tea shop. It seems to have survived the worst of the destruction and so they can still make out it's simple structure and the collection of faded and dusty photographs that clutter its surface.

Naruto, or Kurama rather, has continued ahead to join Kakashi but Sakura steps off the road, seemingly drawn to something about the shrine. Sasuke quickly catches her arm before she gets much closer. He sends her a questioning look when she turns to glance back at him. 

"Don't you see the seal?" She asks as a way of explanation.

He looks again. With it pointed out he can see the intricate carving at the center of the stone arch over the top of the shrine is more than just decoration. It's not like any seal he's ever seen however, curling and artistic and almost...melancholy. 

“Let's keep moving,” he offers, unsettled. “It's getting dark."

Call him superstitious, but he doesn't particularly want to go stirring up any old ghosts in this space. Sasuke has learned over his life that buildings hold on to the things, that energy, clings in a way. After all, the Uchiha compound never stopped smelling like blood, no matter how raw he scraped his fingers trying to scrub it clean. 

Sakura must sense his unease, because she steps away from the shrine and follows after Kurama and Kakashi. Sasuke doesn't miss the way her eyes are drawn to the seal over the shrine even as they leave. 

They pause again a few minutes later as they move deeper into the ransacked village. It's another seal, this one down near the edge of some of the docks facing the ocean. Sakura drops to her knees to study the salt warn carvings of intricate lines and curves and symbols right where the waves meet the stone of the wharf.

Kakashi, realizing they've paused again, doubles back to kneel beside her. He raises a trademark what-do-you-think-you're-doing eyebrow at the pinkette.

"I know, I know, Sasuke already bitched at me about hurrying, just…," her fingers trace along a matrix in front of her, " _look_ at this! These are complex seals and they just tossed them down on the edge of a road like nothing! What are they for?!" 

Even with how exhausted and on edge Sasuke knows she must be, the bright curiosity of her eyes still sparkles in the failing light of the sun. 

Kakashi sighs and then, placing a hand on the pinkette’s shoulder, says, " It'll still be here tomorrow, Sakura. We can document all the seals around the village to your heart’s content once we've found the archives and actually rested and made sure that we weren’t followed all the way here." 

Sakura turns a slightly embarrassed look to him and the rest of Team 7, but the spark of interest doesn't leave her eyes as she rises back to her feet.

By the time Kurama leads them through the majority of Uzushio, the mountain is towering imposingly above them and the sun has disappeared almost completely over the hills behind them. 

They’ve arrived at the part of the village where the streets are steep enough to make Sasuke's calves burn and his breath come a little heavier. The houses here have even worse damage than the areas they've walked through so far, and Sasuke quickly realizes it's because this was once the shinobi district of Uzushio. Surrounding their passage are the destroyed shells of what were once weapon shops and medical clinics, ninja bars and shinobi housing developments. 

The bodies here are… numerous.

Unlike the lower districts of the city where Team 7 moved in a loose, inquisitive train, the grim atmosphere they now traverse has pulled them all within arms reach of each other, like planets drawn together by the gravity of apprehension.

Kakashi has dropped to the back of the group. He walks several paces behind the rest of them, his eyes jumping anxiously back and forth between carefully watching the team and scanning their surroundings for threats. His movements are forcibly loose, the projected aloofness that Hound always adopts even as he’s preparing for a fight. 

Unlike their Sensei, Sakura seems determined to stay within arms reach of both Sasuke and Naruto at all times. Sasuke guesses she’s choosing defensible proximity over visibility, although it doesn’t stop her from examining every building they pass with that same intractable curiosity that she showed at the wharf. She must be memorizing the carnage they pass, Sasuke thinks, counting the corpses, analyzing damages, and maybe looking for more seals. 

As for Naruto, Kurama is still in control, which is probably a good thing in Sasuke's opinion. He's not sure that Naruto could maintain his calm with the scenes that greet them here.

Team 7 turns onto a new block and Sasuke feels himself tense. The street they find themselves on is absolutely destroyed. The surface of the earth itself is shattered like a mirror that someone took a hammer to. Sasuke knows it likely the remnants of what must have been a Jonin level Earth Jutsu at least. The nearby small coastal trees that adorn Uzushio are snapped and burned and, while new growth has taken hold in the space, it's clear that the fight that took place here was apocalyptic.

It's also clear why as they move a little further down the street. 

The building that rests on the side of the road is small. It's red tile roof is scorched and crushed inward completely. Sasuke is almost glad for the level of devastation as he finally makes out the nearly illegible writing above the arched gate in front of the building. 

Maybe it means death was quick for its occupants.

Team 7 stands silently before what was once the Uzushio Academy for several long beats. 

There is nothing to say that can fix what happened here or make it easier.

"Do you think they were fighting to keep them safe or to avenge their deaths?"

That's Sakura, looking at the ruin of the road behind them. The tears that escape her jade eyes don't do anything to soften the hardness on her face, the fury.

"Either way, it doesn't change that they died," Sasuke finds himself snapping back. He knows his voice is sharp and he knows it's unfair and unkind and _ungentle_ , but he's thinking of other children he knew, murdered thoughtlessly for nothing more than politics and the difference between protecting and avenging and if he isn't crass about it he's _going_ to have a panic attack and-

Sakura grabs his hand.

The look she sends him is sympathetic enough to send his hackles rising, but more than anything it's just as angry, just as pained.

Sasuke glances towards Kurama, hoping selfishly that maybe Naruto has risen back to the surface again, but lupine eyes are still glinting out from among sun kissed freckles. The Fox seems to be looking at them more than the wreckage, watching in that same unsettling, curious way he has before.

Sasuke should be glad that Naruto gets to take a backseat to this horror, he was likely related to people that died here, but mostly he just wishes the other boy was with them right now. 

Kakashi rests a hand softly on Sasuke's shoulder. His face is the carefully fabricated mask of blankness that he adopts when he's suppressing strong emotions. The silver haired man lets go of Sasuke after a few moments and tucks his hands into his pockets rolling his neck back to look upward at the darkening night sky.

The Jonin sighs, long and slow and Sasuke hears in it the sorrow he's trying to hide.

Kakashi may be hardened but he still has a heart. 

"Let's keep moving. It's getting late." 

Team 7 doesn't argue.

It's a quiet walk the rest of the way. The only thing that breaks the silence is Kurama, pausing to point out a crater where the Uzukage Tower once was and then another where the Jonin headquarters had been. 

At the latter Sakura, still teary eyed and rigid, mumbles, "Whoever led the attack against Uzushio was monstrous but also brilliant. Every possible place I've seen so far, critical infrastructures, command structures and key strategic _and_ emotional rallying points, have been destroyed systematically and completely. No wonder Whirlpool didn't stand a chance."

Kurana hums in agreement as he leads.

"She was brilliant, the woman who led the attack. Ryoko Hametsu was her name. She was only a Tokabetsu Jonin from Mist but she was clever and unapologetically ruthless. When Kushina killed her 6 years after Uzushio fell the bitch laughed in her face as she was dying. She said that Uzushio's destruction was the most beautiful and perfect thing she had ever led. Kushina bit out her throat for that." 

Sakura stares at Kurama with wide eyes as the Fox grins at the memory.

"I almost got out then. Closest I came until the kit here was born and even that wasn't exactly on my terms." 

Kakashi seems to latch onto that last statement in particular, and Sasuke gets the sense that he would be asking for more details if he wasn't still unsettled by the gruesome sight of the destroyed academy.

Team 7 continues onward.

Sasuke finds himself growing more and more concerned with finding shelter for the night as the sun drops the last few inches over the horizon and the temperature falls with it. 

It's growing cold rapidly and the wind is turning now, beginning to blow off the ocean, carrying the smell of salt and merciless winter. It's cold enough to make Sasuke's teeth clench. Sakura pulls uselessly at the edges of her civilian traveling cloak, trying to keep herself warm however possible, and Kakashi is hunching forward a bit more than normal. Only Kurama seems unbothered by the chill. Sasuke supposes that's one of the benefits of being a demon of fire and calamity, albeit one trapped in the body of a twelve year old. 

They reach the edge of the mountain’s traversable surface after another few minutes of walking. The mountain slope turns cliff face, a rapid incline that rises hundreds of feet into the air. Before them, carved into the surface of dark, salt pitted stone is a giant, intricate spiral.

Unlike the normal simplistic Uzushio spiral, this one is made up of thousands of curling lines that wind together towards the center point. In different sections, the lines mimic wind, water, lightning, earth and fire. Interspersed among the elemental representations are various symbols that remind Sasuke of the clan symbols from Konoha, only these ones are completely unrecognizable to him. There is a stylized wave crashing on a beach, an orca midleap, the image of a typhoon, a pair of oars, and nearly a half dozen other designs. 

“What are they?” Sakura asks as she traces a finger over the carving of the wave. 

“The founding clans of Uzushio,” Kurama responds, sounding almost resigned. “They are scattered now. Some are completely extinct as far as I know.”

Naruto’s tan hand reaches to tap against the wave symbol still under Sakura’s curious fingers.

“The Fukunaga clan,” he walks a few steps to the orca, “the Oki,” a few steps more to the typhoon, “the Matsuo.” He stands up on tip toes and, reaching above his vessel's blonde head, taps the center of the spiral, the crest that they all recognize from where it had once been sewn onto the back of Naruto’s jacket. 

“The Uzumaki.”

The quiet revelation is not quite as sobering as the remains of the academy had been, but Team 7 still watches quietly as Kurama drops back to being flat footed, hands going into his pockets in a gesture that is far more Naruto than Fox. 

For Sasuke it’s another reminder of how similar he and Naruto really are. How much the other boy can relate to Sasuke’s pain. 

A stiff gust of wind sweeps up the hill from the ocean, cutting through the civilian clothing they wear as if it were nothing. Sasuke swears he can see flurries of snow in the breeze as he grits his teeth against the shivers that try to wrack his frame. Even Kurama winces slightly this time at the chill.

“Is this the Archive then?” Kakashi asks, always attentive, always in tune with what they need.

Kurama hums distractedly in ascent.

There is a moment of silence and then Kakashi speaks again, a flash of annoyance creeping through the exhausted cracks in his composure. 

“How do we get inside?”

“You don’t.” Kurama doesn’t sound smug for once, but Kakashi’s annoyance still visibly grows.

Ignoring the frustrated Jonin next to him, Kurama reaches into Naruto’s traveling pack and draws out a Kunai. Team 7 watches curiously. Sakura is just opening her mouth, likely to ask what Kurama is going to do with the blade, when the Fox opens Naruto’s opposing hand and drags the sharpened edge of the knife deeply across the skin.

The smell of blood in the air mingles instantly with the salt of the ocean. Sasuke finds himself stepping forward with a snarl, at once as furious as he was almost two months ago at the prospect of the Fox hurting his rival. As she did then, Sakura grabs his arm to hold him in place. 

Her grip is infinitely stronger than it once was. 

“Wait.” Her voice is calm, but she watches Kurama with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Kakashi has gone still behind them, but he also seems willing to give the Fox the benefit of the doubt for a few moments longer. 

Kurama sends them all a look that is slightly smug, amused, and almost the smallest bit fond. 

“It’s a blood Seal,” he explains as he stands back on tiptoes and reaches for the center of the spiral and the Uzumaki crest again with the scarlet coated hand. “Did you think all these clan symbols were just for show?”

Naruto’s bloody fingers caress the whirlpool symbol and there is a pause, then a glow, faint at first but quickly growing brighter like a sun rising in triple time. Team 7 steps back some as the light races across the mountain surface revealing seals now visible only as long dormant chakra awakens in them. There is a sound like distant thunder and grinding stone and the spiral twists apart at the center, opening to reveal a passageway forward.

Kurama moves into the dark without hesitating and without looking back to see if they follow.

The other three members of Team 7 stare after the Fox and their Jinchuriki. 

“Together?” Sakura offers after a moment, a little unsure sounding, a little tired, but still determined. 

Sasuke nods and strides forward into the darkness with Kakashi and Sakura close behind. 

They reach Kurama just as the Kyuubi reaches to the side and flips a light switch.

The cavern that is revealed as lights flicker unsteadily on is smaller than Sasuke expects it to be at first, no bigger than a particularly spacious living room. However as more light fills the chamber he begins to make out open doorways that lead from this first chamber deeper into the mountain. 

Team 7 exchanges glances and then without saying anything step further into the room.  
The floor here is smooth and covered in the dust of a space long undisturbed. The few simple wall sconces that now shed light on the space catch on tall bookcases lining the walls. Most of them are empty but Sasuke can see a few still have scrolls haphazardly organized on the wooden shelves. The main portion of the room is empty and in the light he can make out stains of black and red and blue across the floor. He wonders if this is where the Uzushio’s Seal Masters laid some of their larger, more complex seals. 

Probably smarter than doing it in a dining room like they did he supposes. 

Kurama’s rumbling voice breaks the strange quiet that has settled over them. 

“Those passages go to different archival sealing rooms. If they didn’t change it between when I was sealed in Mito and Kushina, there should be a fair bit of information there.”

“On the Eight Trigrams?” Sasuke knows the worry he is feeling is audible in his voice by the raised eyebrow the Fox shoots him but he doesn’t care. 

He’s seen the way Naruto flinches and holds his stomach and he can tell it’s happening more and more often. 

He knows they are running out of time. 

“It’s a stretch, but maybe.” The Fox sounds unsure. “Most of the sensitive documents regarding me and my captors were kept in the Uzukage’s personal files. High security and all that.”

“And those wouldn’t still be around would they?” Sakura asks, stepping to examine one of the dust covered shelves. 

“No. He would have destroyed them as soon as he knew the village would fall.”

“So how are we going to fix the fucking seal then?” 

Sasuke doesn’t realize he’s shouted this until his own voice returns to his ears, echoing off the stone walls in a damning chorus. His team is staring. 

The Fox opens his mouth, stops, looks consideringly at him for a second and then his face shifts.

Sasuke doesn’t really understand how he knows that it’s Naruto speaking before the other even opens his mouth but he isn’t surprised when it’s his voice that emerges.

“Hey don’t freak out. I’m still fine and we’ll figure it out.”

Sasuke breathes deep. 

They will. It will be _fine_.

"Well," Kakashi looks about the space with his hands on his hips, "nothing more we can do about that tonight. All of us except probably Naruto are suffering from Chakra exhaustion and honestly just regular old exhaustion. We need to sleep and then we can figure where to go from there." 

As much as Sasuke wants to figure things out _now_ , his body seems to have realized that they are finally in a place they can rest.

"We'll go close the entrance," Naruto offers softly, moving off down the short tunnel back the way they came.

The quiet grinding of stone comes a few beats later and Sasuke breathes out and let's himself drop onto the ground.

Kakashi, Sasuke notes, is staring around the space with what appears to be a hint of… disquiet to his face. 

"Sensei?" He calls out, breaking the silver haired man out of whatever memory was claiming him.

"Ah. Sorry." Kakashi smiles thinly. "Not the best memories associated with caves." 

"So we'll make you some new, better ones," responds Naruto, stepping back into the cave as he rolls tension out of his shoulders.

Kakashi's smile smoothes out at the edges, turns more genuine. 

"I'm sure you all will." 

Team 7 unrolls their sleeping bags and settles in for the night. They are clustered in a tight circle at the center of the ink stained ground. It's definitely a hard stone floor and not exactly something conducive to comfortable sleeping. The air smells of dust and stagnant air and there is a strange echoing thrum that comes with being in an underground space, but Sasuke's body doesn't seem to care. 

He’s been tired for almost two damn months now. 

Though honestly, he’s been tired since he was seven years old and watching his older brother destroy his entire world. 

Sasuke closes his eyes and listens to the gentle, rumbling breaths of Naruto, who fell asleep as soon as he hit the floor. Sakura is still adjusting, finding a way to be comfortable on the hard ground and Kakashi is perfectly silent in the way that means he’s watching over them. 

Maybe, in this dusty, forgotten archive, with the people around him, he has a chance at creating a new life worth living. One that is about more than just revenge and destruction. 

Sasuke’s breaths slow and he allows sleep to take him in, quietly hopeful for what the morning may bring for the first time in a _very_ long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello darling readers! We’ve returned to Team 7 after a long journey through this author's fondness for many other Naruto characters and their reactions to the madness I’ve caused. 
> 
> Shoutout to those of you who guessed that Kakashi and Co would be heading to Uzushio. In the same realm of my thoughts on Sealing, there is _so_ little explored in canon when it comes to Whirlpool and I am _so_ intrigued by it. 
> 
> I hope y’all will forgive Kurama for continuing to be an ass to Kakashi. In his defense, I never said he was a _tame_ fox. ;)
> 
> Next week you can expect a return to my favorite Tokubetsu asshole- *cough* I mean Jonin, and one very stressed schoolteacher. 
> 
> I feel like you will all appreciate knowing that Flightless, Lover and I have weekly Zoom calls now to go over that week’s chapter, which amounts mostly to Flightless and I making bad goofs and Lover absolutely destroying me over my grammar awareness and lack of thereof. 
> 
> Eagerly awaiting your comments as always. My lovely editors would tell you they fuel me like caffeine given to a three year old. If you’re interested, I do have a twitter @LuckyWriter7 (I GUESS) that you are welcome to chat at me on and despite the old lady I am, I will attempt to use it to post about any update information or _possibly_ minor upcoming spoilers.
> 
> Love you all! <3


	16. They Want Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see you coming but I won't step back. We don't take kindly to being under attack. I hear the fear in every word that you say. I love the danger, let the wolves come out to play. The crowd, they gather on the street and they want blood. I'm not a hero but the fight is like a drug. 
> 
> \- Not Afraid to Die, Written by Wolves 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

Genma meets with the other Tokubetsu Jonin and Iruka on Thursday night for drinks.

Once upon a time it had been a weekly thing, getting together to talk shit and bemoan hard missions and flirt with other ninja at the bar. Well more specifically Genma and Anko did most of the flirting. Raidou had been in a relationship with a pretty Chunin for nearly 2 years now and Iruka was always "too busy" to date. Before the shitshow that was the Chunin Exams attack, they'd been on a mission to try and get the schoolteacher to actually unwind and take someone home with him. 

That probably would be a lesser priority tonight than simply getting wasted, Gemma thinks.

He's arrived at the bar first, which is not unusual for him, but the subdued atmosphere of Off Duty certainly is. The low lighting, scratched tables and countertops, questionable cleanliness and cheap drinks are pretty standard, but the crowds of shinobi taking a break from their violent lives are quiet and reserved. It's a shinobi bar for gods sake, Genma bemoans, where are the Kunai throwing competitions, the arm wrestling matches, the _fist fights_? 

Sulking slightly, Genma orders a glass of plum wine from the server while he waits for the others. 

He supposes that the death of a Hokage and the near destruction of the entire village is reason enough for the quiet of his favorite drinking establishment, but he still hates it. He was hoping for a chance to get away from the mess this past month has been, not a reminder of it. 

On one hand, he's definitely got work again. Lord Danzo has reinstated the Assasination corps to their wartime levels which means more assignments for the Black Ops that unit Genma and Raidou and the others are in and fewer desk jobs and guard shifts and overall less boredom for Genma. Less boredom is good.

On the other, everything is _fucked_ and Genma kinda hates it. There is a permeating sense of unease and distrust that has taken hold of the village since Sound's attack. 

Team 7's defection is an open secret at this point. It hadn't taken long for word to leak that the Copy nin Kakashi and Sasuke Uchiha and The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had gone rogue. The sense of vague panic that information has sewn in Konoha's ranks is widespread to say the least and the whispers against the team are absolutely brutal. People are calling for Kakashi's head on a stick and, while Genma understands the impulse, he actually finds himself somewhat annoyed by all of it. 

He knows that Team 7 is a threat, and that their defection is a betrayal of the highest order, but the fact that everyone seems more stressed about them than the fact that Otogakure and Orochimaru attacked Konoha and killed Sarutobi and _got away with it_ feels like insanity to him.

A whole village and its batshit insane Otokage trying to destroy them feels like a much bigger fish to fry in his book. 

But what does he know about it, he thinks, bitterly taking another swallow of the sweet wine. He was only on a first name basis with two Hokage and there when Sarutobi died on the end of Orochimaru's sword and, oh yeah, survived the front lines of the Third Shinobi War for half a decade. Village politics are _well_ above his head, _clearly_. 

Genma snorts into his cup. He is dearly looking forward to getting absolutely fucking smashed tonight. He's going to either pick a fight or drag someone pretty into the bathroom in back and screw the ever living daylights out of them. Hopefully it'll mean a break from the stress of these last few weeks no matter which way the dice fall.

If Raidou doesn't stop him that is.

Curse his stupid best friend and his stupid mothering instincts.

Genma is broken out of his whining thoughts as someone drops into the corner booth he's sequestered for the night.

The Tokabetsu Jonin sends a tired but genuine smile at Iruka. The schoolteacher is one of his oldest friends and Genma would take a Kunai to the throat for him. And recently, Genma thinks, things have been looking kind of like he might have to, considering the mess Iruka had been in since the exams.

"Ibiki and the snakes at Interrogation finally decide you are in the clear?" he asks blithely.

"I think I take offense to that." Says Anko, who is of the aforementioned interrogation snakes, if at least one that's in their corner. 

She plops gracelessly into the seat next to Iruka and forces him to scoot further in to make room for her as she grins meanly at Genma. It looks accidental, the way she's maneuvered Iruka into the corner, but Genma knows it isn't.

He would have done the same considering the absolute shit time the school teacher has had the past few weeks, shinobi protective instincts and all that. 

More than just starting the fall of dominos that killed The Third, or betraying his promise to the village, if anything makes Genma wanna kill Kakashi for what he's done it's the position his defection has put Iruka in.

The teacher's been through _hell_ these past couple weeks. Considering that he was registered as Naruto's immediate guardian and worse, had known semi-regular interactions with Kakashi and the rest of Team 7 in the month before they left, he's been cast under extreme suspicion. It's only thanks to Anko's intervention and Ibiki's own fondness for him that the Chunin hasn't been sent to the deepest darkest pits of IT to have his mind pulled apart. 

While the village has a longstanding policy of not using the Yamanaka's mind reading techniques on loyal citizens, the loss of a Jinchuriki tends to put such values under strain. Genma is unspeakably grateful for Ibiki and Anko in this regard. The Yamanaka's jutsu is not unknown to cause permanent damage to a shinobi's psyche after all.

Even without the mindfucking though, Genma knows his friend has been raked over the coals in interrogation after interrogation since 7 defected. Iruka's suffered through half a dozen sessions with Ibiki himself, as well as other high ranking interrogators, and those are only the ones Genma knows about. 

On top of that, the already stressed Chunin has been _voluntarily_ picking up extra shifts at the mission desk, even agreeing to take on sorting and cataloging out-going missions. Iruka was already a workaholic even by ninja standards and now he’s spending nearly twenty additional hours at the mission desk on top of what he had already been working. 

According to Raidou, when he'd cornered Iruka about the choice the schoolteacher had puffed up indignantly “like a pissed off cat" and berated Raidou for questioning his attempts to help the village in it's time of need. The Tokabetsu Jonin had left the interaction so thoroughly scolded that no one had dared question Iruka's work hours since.

Genma may be changing that tonight considering how exhausted the Chunin across from him looks though. 

Iruka's normally neat brown hair is piled in a bun that looks more like a knot than an intentional fashion choice and his normally bright hazel eyes are almost glazed with stress and sleeplessness. He appears to be wearing the same clothes that Genma saw him in yesterday so he has a sneaking suspicion that the Chunin hasn't slept in at least 48 hours. 

Anko and Genma share a speaking look as Iruka slumps and drops his head into his arms. 

Answering his question from before, Iruka mumbles from where his head is pressed against the dark wooden tabletop, 

"I think so? I thought that about the last two times they've called me in though, so who knows at this point."

"Are you gonna tell Genma what you told me while I was dragging you from that gods damned mission desk you've chained yourself to?" 

Anko's voice always sounds one part angry, one part smug but Genma isn't used to hearing the worry that now laces through it as well.

Genma turns expectantly to Iruka, who in turn is glaring pointedly at Anko.

The glare is… significantly less impactful than it normally would be. 

Despite his height and sweet nature, Iruka has a well known temper and the lungs to make good on it. Genma has seen the Chunin make more than one Jonin cry with his tirades against their shoddy work on missions reports or mistreatment of their comrades. Their group of friends has developed something of a strategy for the schoolteacher’s fearsome temper, which usually amounted to avoid when possible, appease when necessary, flee if able.

Now however, with his messy hair and slumped posture Genma's friend looks less threatening than a wet kitten. 

“Iruka?” he prompts as gently as his nature allows, and the exhausted man across from him folds almost immediately. 

“It’s not even serious…” 

Anko shuts that shit down without hesitation, one arm going around Iruka’s drooping shoulders as she leans down to stare pointedly at him.

She doesn’t even have to say anything before Iruka sighs in defeat, which, considering how fucking _stubborn_ their friend is, sends Genma’s adrenaline spiking before Iruka even explains what’s going on. 

“Someone graffitied my house.”

That's not quite as dire as Genma was expecting by Anko's reaction. He knows the teacher has had rowdy students target his little apartment before, Naruto included, so he doesn’t really see why Anko is so-

“That’s an understatement.” The dark haired Kunoichi sounds… well, mad is always a given with her but the worry is even more pronounced now. She turns to Genma and continues. 

“Someone fucking spray painted ‘die traitor’ across his entire front door.”

“Anko _really_ -” Iruka starts, sounding frustrated and a little embarrassed.

The poisoner slaps a hand over his mouth.

“Worse, his barrier seals were tampered with and someone clearly tried to disarm the traps on his front door.”

As she finishes Anko drops her hand away from Iruka’s mouth as Genma stares in dismay at his friend. The other immediately melts further into his seat. He still looks embarrassed of all things.

“Really Genma, Anko, it’s _fine_. I’m sure it was a prank and anyway I can take care of myself you know!”

Genma isn’t listening to Iruka anymore. He knows he still looks like he is from any outside perspective, with his muscles relaxed and posture leaning against the padded back of the booth. His face just happens to be conveniently shadowed by the placement of the bar's warm but dim lighting and his hands out of sight under the table. 

In reality though Genma couldn't be less relaxed. His mind has switched tracks entirely from thoughts of a fun evening to the full blown attentiveness of a shinobi in enemy territory.

His grey eyes drift through the room, cataloging expressions, stances, gazes directed their way, and the nearness of hands-to-weapons, with the perfected precision that’s earned him his place as one of the most deadly assassins in the Leaf. Off Duty isn’t crowded tonight compared to how it sometimes can get, but it’s still got plenty of bodies in it. Plenty of potential threats. 

He finds several such threats almost immediately. No one is acting outright hostile of course, but a pair of Chunin with the Barrier Corps keeps sending glances towards their table and a Jonin that Genma only knows in passing is leaning on the nearby bar with a glass of sake in one hand and a kunai flipping steadily in the other. The Jonin's eyes are making far too frequent detours to one exhausted Chunin, and they’re not the interested, appreciative detours that, until recently, would have Genma shoving Iruka in the man's direction either.

Those three aren’t the only ones either. 

In total, Genma counts seven Konoha ninja who keep sending looks toward Iruka that are significantly more interested and significantly less friendly than acceptable. The Chunin in question is still arguing doggedly with Anko, trying to convey that really, everything is fine and their worry over his safety is unfounded. 

He hasn’t picked up on his audience _or_ the protective tension that is coiling through Genma’s muscles, further proof of how tired Iruka is.

However Raidou notices the latter as soon as he steps through the front door and begins making his way towards their table. The tall man catches Genma’s eye and seeing something in his best friend's gaze immediately goes on guard. It isn’t obvious to anyone, but Genma knows Raidou better than himself most days so he recognizes his tells. The way the tall man’s steps lighten almost imperceptibly and the way he shifts slightly to make his sword, Kokuto, more easily accessible is as clear as a shout to Genma that Raidou knows something is up. Genma flicks his eyes, clearly and pointedly, to the people he’s noticed in the room and then as casually as he can, lifts a senbon from his belt and into his mouth. 

Raidou sits down at the table, sending a carefully arched brow Genma’s way before warmly interrupting the rapidly deteriorating argument between Anko and Iruka. 

“Iruka! You look a little exhausted, you doing okay?”

Iruka, for lack of a better term, loses it.

The schoolteacher throws his hands up and explodes. 

“That’s because I am exhausted, okay!?” His cheeks are flushed and tears actually seem to be gathering at the corners of his eyes. 

"Naruto is _gone_ and so are two of my other students and I'm so worried about all them but also so mad and I just don't know what to do with myself most days! The mission desk is a mess and I _know_ people are talking behind my back and now I have to scrub spray paint off my front door and also rework my traps and I have a test on chakra natures to grade still for my students and a weeks worth of lesson plans to prepare!" 

Anko pats Iruka's back soothingly as the man thunks his head back down onto the tabletop with a distressed moan and Raidou makes some appropriately sympathetic comment or other. 

Genma isn't listening again because he's busy tracking the gazes of the ninja he’s noticed, watching their scowls deepen at the chunin’s outburst and a few, the Jonin at the bar included, tightening hands on the hilts of weapons. He makes note of each of them in the unapologetic way that he does for anyone that may die from an unfortunate case of senbon-through-the-jugular. 

Because these motherfuckers will die if they try to come after one of his friends.

Genma may be reckless and irreverent and oppositional, but above all that he is loyal. 

Unflinchingly, unapologetically loyal.

That loyalty belongs to the village for sure. He believes in the Leaf and would die for it if he was called to do so.

But his loyalty to his friends supersedes even that.

There aren't many people he counts in his inner circle. Anko, Raidou and his girlfriend Chizu, Izumo and Kotetsu, Gai, and of course Iruka. 

There are other people he cares about of course. He has dozens of friends and even more friendly acquaintances. He is _likeable_ okay? 

But his loyalties are hard earned and absolute and not widely given and so if one of these fucking bastards tries to come after Iruka…

The metal between his teeth creaks slightly as he bears down on it, his fine tuned control faltering for a moment.

Raidou gives him a pointed look and Anko kicks him less than gently under the table. Genma sends a barely-there glare her way in response and then has to immediately hide a smile as a tiny black snake peaks out from Anko's dark hair to flick its tongue menacingly at him.

If the Kunoichi has her summons on her right now, then she's also noticed the less than friendly audience and is just as murderous about it.

Raidou makes a small sound that could pass as a yawn and crosses his arms. When Genma and Anko's eyes dart to him he swiftly makes the Anbu sign for 'Hold' against his arm where his form will hide it from the prying eyes of the other ninja in the bar. 

He's right. He always is, which is why Raidou is their command when their team is in the field, but Genma is itching with nerves and he knows Anko isn't much better from the way her nails tap tap tap quietly against the tabletop. 

Iruka, even less perceptive than normal and entirely missing the silent conversation happening between his three dangerous friends, raises his head from the table to rub a slightly shaking hand over his bleary eyes.

"Honestly guys, things are tough but there isn't really anything I can do about it right now. Anbu is too busy to look into something as minor as a little bullying of a Chunin level schoolteacher, and besides Ibiki and Lord Danzo have as good as cleared me. I don't see how worrying about it will help anything. It'll all blow over soon." 

Genma flicks his eyes to Raidou again, and the scarred man rapidly shifts the sign he's still hiding in the crook of his arm. 

Genma catches "compromised" and then "move to safe house" and immediately knows what his friend is saying.

Finally noticing the lull in responses, Iruka drops his hands from his eyes to glance suspiciously around at them. He's about to open his mouth, likely to demand they tell him what they are scheming because it's not the first time he's caught them using Anbu sign to talk silently around him, when Genma cuts him off. 

"Well,” he exclaims, voice warm and unhurried, “until you get things sorted at your place you can crash with me!"

Iruka sputters.

"Genma honestly that's _completely_ unnecessary and besides I don't want to impose and-"

"Nonsense Ruka! I'd love to have you and anyway I've got a spare room that's been sitting empty since Rai decided he loves Chizu more than me." 

Raidou laughs and Iruka is still trying to argue, but Anko leans across the table to snark, 

"That's cause Chizu can actually cook something other than charcoal Genma." Turning to Iruka she pushes on. "Did you know this motherfucker told me he hasn't eaten anything other than field rations this entire week? Cause he's too lazy to go buy groceries to properly feed himself?"

Clever Anko, Genma thinks even as he feigns a guilty sputter, using Iruka's deep seated need to take care of the people precious to him since he won't take care of himself.

If it works then Genma is going to owe her a drink. 

Possibly several rounds.

Iruka's protests die as he turns fatigued but still indignant eyes toward Genma.

"Field rations Genma?! You know the nutritional composition of those won’t sustain you for long periods of time!" 

Genma holds up his hands placatingly as Iruka launches into a slightly delirious sounding but still very well informed lecture on the dietary requirements of active ninja.

"See Iruka," adds Raidou, smiling his calm and honest smile at their Chunin, "you'd really be doing us a favor by staying with him for a bit. Otherwise I'm fully convinced the idiot is going to give himself scurvy and get us all killed on our next mission cause he falls out of a tree or something." 

Anko howls in laughter at this and Genma parodies an exaggerated faint of embarrassment.

Iruka is smiling at their antics. Genma is glad to see some of the brightness return to his friends face. 

"Fine,” Iruka says after the laughter has died down some, “but only for a few days and only until I've stocked your fridge with some _green things_." 

"If it'll make you feel better, Sensei." Genma grins around the senbon still in his teeth.

Iruka's smile softens and he looks around the table at the three of them with so much bare gratefulness and affection.

"Thank you all, honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you…"

"Well, you never have to worry about finding out, Sensei," Raidou says gently and Genma knows that his friend means it.

Anko nods and tightens the arm she still has wrapped securely around the tired Chunin's shoulder as she launches into some embarrassing story or other, probably about him. Raidou is smiling openly and warmly at the Chunin. 

They are both honest gestures, but Genma knows that they aren't uncalculated.

Looking across the room the assassin makes eye contact with the Jonin at the bar again.

He smiles at the other ninja, even sharper than the senbon still trapped between his teeth.

It's not a nice smile. 

It's a smile that says, see that he has allies, see that he is protected and off limits. See that if you try to hurt what's ours we'll _break_ you. 

The other man frowns and then turns away.

Genma turns back towards his people.

He knows that in some ways Iruka is right. Things will calm down after people have had a chance to get over being afraid and angry about Team 7 and Otogakaru and the Third's death. But until then, Genma and Anko and Raidou, and Kotetsu and Izumo too once they loop the couple in, will watch the schoolteacher’s back. 

And if anyone tries to sink a Kunai into it? Well let's just say that Genma will gladly show them that Kakashi Hatake wasn't the only ninja to be feared in the Leaf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dearest readers! I hope you all enjoy this little check in back with Iruka and the Tokabetsu Jonin squad. I absolutely adored writing this chapter because one, I love making my favorite characters suffer (Sorry Iruka!) and two, I love people _worrying_ about my favorite characters when they are suffering. >:)c
> 
> As I've mentioned before, Genma and Co are some of my absolute favorite background characters so you can plan on seeing a lot more of them moving forward. They have to watch out for Iruka, after all! 
> 
> Next Thursday (man remember when I thought I'd have the patience to wait till Fridays to post) you can expect some more Team 7 in Uzushio and some more divergence from their canon paths. 
> 
> As every week, I look forward to your comments, and feel free to come chat with me on Tumblr at [ Yesiamanerd ](https://yesiamanerd.tumblr.com/)  
> or on Twitter at [ LuckyWriter7 ](https://twitter.com/LuckyWriter7).


	17. It's You And Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just hold onto me, I'll hold onto you. It's you and me up against the world, it's you and me. I don't believe anything, don't trust anyone but me, but I believe you when you say we're never gonna fall. 
> 
> -Parachute, Ingrid Michaelson
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

Kakashi waits an entire month before sitting down to write his first update to Iruka. Mostly, he’s waiting to make sure that no one is close enough on their trail that a letter would alert them to Team 7’s presence. But more than that, he keeps waiting for something to go _wrong_. He’s not complaining that it hasn’t yet, but as he finally sits down in the makeshift living room they’ve cobbled together and begins putting pen to paper, he almost feels a little foolish writing down how strangely uneventful the past thirty days have been for Team 7. 

Unlike the month before they left Konoha when every week saw a new crisis emerge and Kakashi could feel his lifespan shrinking, their time in the archives so far has passed easily, smoothly. 

Kakashi keeps expecting the other shoe to drop, for Konoha to find them or Naruto to have another fainting spell or some terrible, new secret to reveal itself, but nothing of that nature has happened over the past month at all. Instead, Team 7 took the time to rest and recuperate and establish themselves in the caves.

When Kakashi had suggested they try and find the Archives he hadn't expected anything more than a few dusty rooms with some long unread scrolls cluttering them. The Archives weren’t ever supposed to be anything more than a temporary resting point before Team 7 continued moving, continued running.

But after a few initial days of exploration, the Uzushio Archives turned out to be far more than that. 

Instead of the decrepit storage facility Kakashi had expected, it seemed the cave system had once housed one of Uzushio's libraries. Kakashi knew they’d had other places of learning in the village while it still functioned, both for sealing and civilian pursuits alike, but the mountain archives appeared to have served another function completely. 

In Team 7’s first forays into the tunnels, they'd quickly come to realize that the Archives were actually an entire network of caves specifically built for studying and practicing fūinjutsu. 

Near the front entrance of the archives there was the spacious sealing chamber for laying large, complex seals, and another large room near it with scarred and worn training dummies and empty weapons racks on the wall. Beyond that rested a small kitchenette with a broken refrigerator and a coal burning stove, a bathroom with a simple shower and pipes that rattled but still produced hot water given the time, and a room that held a few cots with moth eaten mattresses. Continuing deeper into the mountain there were so many branching tunnels with off-shooting rooms full of scroll and book stacked shelves that they still haven’t even begun to explore all of them. 

With careful use of the Sharingan, Sakura’s keen eyes, and Kurama’s patchy memories, they'd also managed to find a couple of well hidden passages to the surface of the mountain above. The knowledge of escape routes has made the claustrophobia that still prickles at Kakashi's peace a little easier to manage. He’s come to peace with the fact that if he is a rat in a cage, at least it's a big cage, with more than one way in and out.

Considering their findings, Team 7’s collective best estimation is that the archives had once been used to house and train Uzushio's population of seal masters while they were working on various projects. A lucky break for the homeless, rogue ninjas who’d stumbled upon them, to put it lightly. 

Of course, a lot of what had once been kept in the archives had been cleared out and according to Kurama, anything truly sensitive had been stored in the Uzukage’s office anyway. The Archives had large blank spots where once there must have been impressive collections of weapons and sealing scrolls. Kakashi wonders if the latter were destroyed on purpose to avoid the chance of them falling into enemy hands. Probably a smart move on the part of the long dead Uzushio nin, but certainly no favor to them now. 

Still, no point in looking for a gift hidden-base-of-operations in its lack of weaponized scrolling information.

Even if they still haven’t managed to explore its entire expanse, they’d adapted the Archives to fit their needs well enough for now. Unlike what Kakashi had been preparing Team 7 for in Konoha, they’d had no need to go scrambling off into the wilderness, bouncing from backwater town to backwater town. No one else ever knew the archives were here, and even if they did, they couldn't get in the front door without Uzumaki blood.

Team 7 was safe. 

Once Kakashi realized that they won’t need to leave the Archives, there was a rather lengthy list of things that Team 7 had to accomplish in order to truly settle into their new mountain home. They needed to lay traps for fish in the small freshwater streams that trickled down the eastward side of the mountain and snares for the light footed game that traversed its sparse woodlands. They needed to don disguises and go into the nearby village to purchase the essentials that they couldn’t otherwise obtain. 

Most pressingly though, they needed to bury Uzushio’s dead.

It was not an easy task. 

There were a lot of remains scattered through the quiet, shattered city and no way to identify them. 

The only one among them with any true ties to the village was Naruto, so when he decided to create a funeral pyre and burn the nameless skeletons all at once, they respectfully followed his lead.

“I don’t even know which of them would have been my family members,” he told Kakashi at one point, eyes full of directionless fury and loss. 

Kakashi, wisely, said nothing to this, simply dropped an arm around Naruto’s shoulders and let the last Uzumaki bury his face into Kakashi’s side and shake through the sobs. 

Sakura and Sasuke approached the task with suitable gravity and solemnity. 

Kurama stayed quiet. 

They spent five days working tirelessly to find and give rest to all of Uzushio’s people. Even between the four of them and all of Kakashi’s ninken, there was a lot of city to cover, and a lot of devastation to sift through. 

Several times they found remains that bore the trappings of shinobi from Mist or Kumo. When they uncovered the first such skeleton Sakura asked Naruto what he wanted to do with the ninja that had died destroying Whirlpool. Instead of answering, the Jinchuriki picked up the partly shattered skull and crushed it to a dust which blew from his trembling hand to mingle with the island's constant salt laden breeze. Naruto hadn’t said a word as he dumped the skeleton on the ground, stalking away.

They let him go. His answer was clear enough, and after that, they had irreverently disposed of any others they found bearing the marks of the villages who had destroyed Uzushio. 

It was undoubtedly one of the hardest things Kakashi has ever had to do and not only because he had to watch the toll it took on his kids. So much of his life has gone to hardening his heart, but even he had to close his eyes and breathe through the sharp feeling of _loss_ when he and Sakura uncovered the small, crushed bones under the roof of what was once the academy building. 

They got it done eventually, and once they did, once all of Uzusio’s restless ghosts had been given peace, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools began to feel a bit less like a graveyard and more like something that could become home. 

When they realized they wouldn't have to run again, that Whirlpool was going to be where they stayed to put down roots, for the time being, the kids had jumped on the chance to make the place their own. 

The former Konoha nin quickly turned the once sealing chamber at the entrance into a living room of sorts. Ugly but soft grey couches bought on the cheap from the nearby fishing village, Gyoson, are set atop a massive woven rug that covers the ink stained stone floor. A handful of ratty blankets and mismatched pillows clutter the couches and most of the original bookshelves have been filled with scrolls and knickknacks found either in the archives themselves or the rest of Uzushio's ruins.

Using some of the additional, smaller albeit, but still impressive caverns nearby the entrance Team 7 has made for themselves 4 bedrooms. They also cleaned and stocked the little kitchen and adapted the small bathroom to serving four people to the best of their abilities. 

With all of the decades old dust cleared out and purpose once again given to it’s chambers, a somewhat homely atmosphere has begun to take shape in the Uzushio archives.

Of course, it's homely in the way that has kunai hidden in every room, spare straw for the training dummies always well stocked, escape routes carefully mapped, and soldier pills next to the salt shaker in the kitchen. 

Ninja homely.

Despite all of them having their own space, Kakashi finds to his amusement that his kids rarely use their bedrooms for more than storage. All three of them have taken to staying up later than is probably reasonable, piled together in various tangles of limbs and pillows and blankets in what they've grown to call the den. 

He joins them sometimes, telling the more lighthearted stories from his time as Hound on some nights and on others just listening to the kids chatter. 

On evenings when Naruto and Sasuke seem particularly grounded and unhaunted, he recounts tales of Itachi and Shishu, of Minato and Kushina, even of his old team. 

It's like pressing on a bruise for all three of them, painful, but a reminder that they are healing the best they can.

Even though they may not hurt her in the same way they do the rest of her team, Sakura always listens earnestly to these stories. She wraps strong arms that much more securely around Naruto or presses that much closer against Sasuke's side. 

In a village setting, Kakashi would be worried about the developing dependency Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke have on each other and on him. He would worry that their loyalties to each other had come to supersede their loyalties to the village. But now, the only thing they have to depend on or be loyal to is each other so he doesn't find he minds the pups sleeping arrangement or growing bonds.

Besides, lucky for him, it makes it easier to check on them in the night when his anxieties and nightmares haunt the cruelest. 

Kakashi considers himself lucky for a lot of reasons. Naruto's seal seems to have stabilized somewhat since arriving in Whirlpool. It's not _better_ and the boy still feels discomfort from it fairly regularly, but it's not deteriorating at the same rate it was either. He can't help but wonder if the Jinchuriki is more at peace or if something else is holding the Eight Trigrams disintegration at bay. 

Either way, it gives them some time to find a solution. 

Seal worries aside, Naruto has proven extremely adept at settling into their new home. After a solid first week of doing nothing more daring than sneaking out to hunt and retrieve water, the team had finally come to trust that they had made it this far without pursuit and had trekked the ten miles or so to nearby Gyoson to get supplies. They had henged of course but even wearing a face not his own Naruto had proven particularly capable at bartering. He'd managed to score them a set of mismatched plates and bowls as well as the pillows and blankets that now sat in their living room, all in exchange for helping one of the old women in town clean out her attic.

When asked about it, the blonde had explained that he used to have to do all kinds of creative bartering to afford school supplies with the stipends Konoha gave him as an orphan. After learning that particular tidbit about his teammates checkered childhood Sasuke had disappeared to the training room and hadn't come back out until several hours and several absolutely shredded cloth dummies later.

Sakura has also been adjusting well. The seals that frequent the ruins of Uzushio as well as those scrolls they can find discussing Fūinjutsu have captured her attention like Kakashi has seen little else do. When he doesn't have them training or helping keep the Archive clean and livable she can be found curled on one of the den couches, a myriad of scrolls piled around her as she meticulously works her way through them one at a time, carefully taking notes as she goes. 

She's not going to be running out of material anytime soon either. Every time they explore further into the caves they find new rooms full of carefully sorted, dusty scrolls and books. 

From Sakura's extensive readings it seems that the information left undestroyed when Uzushio fell is mostly non-combat related. Despite this, there seems to be a nearly neverending amount of content available. Unlike the other Great Ninja villages, Uzushio had used sealing for _everything_ so Kakashi supposes that it makes sense that they have such a completely overwhelming amount of info on it.

Sakura has been plowing through manuscripts on everything from construction seals used to decrease the noise levels of construction in populated areas to seals acted to more securely anchor ships in the rough Uzusio harbor to seals that functioned almost like a minor soldier pill, allowing doctors and desk ninja and patrols to work late hours and stay energized.

His pink haired student has tried to explain her readings to him several times and try as he might, those interactions usually just end with Kakashi wanting to flee. Her fluency in the complicated science has rapidly surpassed Kakashi’s shaky grasp on the subject. The girl has been taking to sealing like a tigress to a particularly slow and sickly deer. Lately when she jogs up to Kakashi with a new pile of scrolls in her arms and that _look_ in her eyes Kakashi feels like maybe he's the deer.

Despite his inability to really help her, over the past week Sakura has even started carefully drawing out her own seals. She started simple with smoke bomb tags but when they tested them, the seals had worked perfectly. 

Sakura's whoop of joy at the pillar of black smoke that poured out of the piece of paper had been one of those things that makes Kakashi feel like every bit of pain that has brought them here was worth it.

More than once Kakashi has stumbled upon her working furiously in one of her notebooks with the sketches she made weeks ago of the still mysterious seals down by the harbor open in front of her alongside books, bafflingly, on physics and medical ninjutsu. Kakashi should ask questions probably but she doesn't seem to want help and honestly, at this point, he'd probably just slow down whatever she's working on.

More than anything else so far, it makes him miss Iruka. Kakashi is certain that the school teacher would know how to support Sakura in her passions. The best Kakashi can offer her is trusting her brilliance and drive and also somewhat panickedly asking Iruka for advice, any advice at all, in his letter. He will not write that he misses him though. 

Kakashi feels similarly out of his depth when it comes to Sasuke. Whereas Sakura has wrapped herself up in fūinjutsu, Sasuke seems to have leaned into his quiet interest in medical ninjutsu.

During their second week in the archives, Kakashi and the kids found a room stock full of records, old training books, and medical dummies from the long destroyed Uzushio Hospital. Sasuke had moved the stacks of books to his room immediately and though he isn't tearing through them at near the rate Sakura is with her fūinjutsu, he’s still certainly been setting time aside time each day to practice the new field.

Kakashi knows even less about medical jutsu than he does about fūinjutsu. If push comes to shove he can slow down serious bleeding but that's about it. So on one hand, he has no idea how to go about teaching Sasuke, but on the other thank the gods that at least one of his kids is interested in healing. 

He has a feeling that they'll probably need it sooner than later.

When he'd asked about Sasuke's interest in the subject the dark haired boy had simply shrugged and said quietly and a little bitterly, "I won't lose anyone else precious to me".

Kakashi couldn't argue with that logic though he is still worried that Sasuke’s drive may not be coming from the best place.

Thankfully, Naruto's interest seems to be steering towards a bastard combination of taijutsu and ninjutsu, both of which Kakashi is more than able to instruct.

Without the Hokage ban on his knowledge of copied jutsu in place any more, Kakashi truly has what feels like an infinite source of things to teach the Jinchuriki. Given a few years for him to impart all he knows the boy is going to be an absolute terror. 

All three of his kids will be. 

One of the strangest developments of their stay in the archives is the ongoing presence of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Not unlike Kakashi, the tailed beast seems determined to actually help the once Genin of Team 7. Kakashi has walked in more than once to hear the Fox's deep rumble explaining something to one of the kids.

Naruto, unsurprisingly, seems to receive most of Kurama's attention. Kakashi's student has made reference to help with everything from meditation to his katas, but he isn't the only one receiving tutelage. Only last week Kakashi had walked in to overhear the Kyuubi's rumbling explanation of a particular aspect of sealing theory that seemed to be stumping Sakura. A few days before Sasuke mentioned the fox teaching him a Sebon throwing stance that was unique to Uzushio. 

It's…strange.

Kakashi still doesn't trust the fox. He doesn't even like the creature. However, he has come to believe that maybe, _maybe_ , it isn't completely selfish in its motivations.

 _His_ motivations.

Because that's the other thing, despite Kakashi's own haunting, terrifying memories of a dark sky full of fire and the mindless roar of a creature bent solely on the destruction of everything in its path, he cannot argue anymore that Kurama is nothing more than a monster.

The Kyuubi is inarguably monstrous and dangerous and otherworldly and uncaring about humans in the grand scheme of things, that much is still certain in Kakashi's mind.

But...he's also more than that.

Three nights ago Kakashi had crept into the den to check on his kids. It was one of those nights where even after he jerked awake in bed, the phantom stickiness of blood still felt like it clung to his hands, still coated his right arm. So with Obito’s Sharingan burning in its socket and his recent nightmare still crawling fresh beneath the surface of his skin, he’d gone to check on his kids. 

When he'd poked his head into the dimly lit living area he'd found all three pups curled among a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. Some of the kids' nest had clearly been pilfered from Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's respective rooms. The three of them were dogpiled together in its middle as the low light of the lamps cast a dim, warm glow in the space.

The only sounds were the quiet sleeping breaths of Sakura and Sasuke, heads resting on Naruto's shoulders, and the rumbling gently echoing murmur of the Kyuubi's voice. 

The Fox's presence in the space had sent Kakashi's hackles rising instantly. His already restless mind ratcheted up in stress at the presence of the beast among his vulnerable team.

But shock rapidly replaced his protectiveness as he stood and listened from the shadows of the cracked doorway. 

From what Kakashi could make out, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, demon, being of disaster and calamity, seemed to be telling them a bedtime story. 

Kakashi had silently stood listening for several minutes and once his heart rate and adrenaline had settled, had crept back to the dark of his room. 

Kakashi still doesn't know if Kurama realizes he overheard or not.

His eyes had certainly never raised to meet Kakashi's and his tone never changed.

More than even the strangeness of the Kyuubi telling a bedtime story, Kakashi finds himself stuck even now on how easily his sleep found him after that and how nightmare free it was. 

It's as if the knowledge of the Fox watching over his kids had been comfort enough that Kakashi's subconscious allowed him to truly feel safe. As if the Fox, the _Kyuubi_ , was considered safe.

It's certainly one of the oddest things in the life he now finds himself living, especially considering that only a few months ago he was certain that Kurama would as soon bite out their throats as look at them.

All of this goes in the letter.

The silver haired Jonin huffs a self deprecating laugh at himself as he lifts the pen from the parchment. He's managed to fill several pages already and he does feel a little ridiculous about it.

He's still happy to be writing the letter though.

He loves his kids, but after weeks on the road and then being stuck together in the Archives he desperately wants the chance to speak to another adult. Even if just through Kanji. Especially if that adult is Iruka.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi are, at the moment, relaxing in the common room after dinner. It's been a quiet day with a morning spent checking some of the traps they'd lain to ensure a steady supply of fresh meats and then sparring as a team in the afternoon, but otherwise not else of note. Naruto is now leaning back against Sasuke's legs as he chatters about his latest trip into Gyoson while the other boy hums at appropriate junctures to show he's listening. Sakura is missing from their little cluster in the den. She's spent the afternoon digging through a new cluttered room of scrolls and books they uncovered yesterday.

Looking back at the pages he's written, Kakashi worries briefly that Iruka will be annoyed by all his rambling and superfluous details about the lives he and the kids are building for themselves in the archives. Then he remembers the schoolteacher's gentle smile as Naruto talked a mile a minute at him about his day, or his thoughtful attentiveness as Sakura worked through a logic puzzle while they sat in the Hatake kitchen. 

Iruka is an incredibly _genuinely_ good listener, and he probably wants to hear all the nonsense that Kakashi finds himself writing down, maybe almost as much as Kakashi wants to share it with him.

Even more pressing than his disquiet over the rambling nature of the letter, Kakashi is concerned that it looks a little like Team 7 has been slacking. After all, at the moment, they don't have any real plan for what their next steps will bring, let alone how to begin repairing Naruto's seal.

It's not to say they haven't been keeping busy but he doesn't feel like they're made any progress either.

Kakashi knows Iruka wouldn’t fault them, or him specifically, for their hesitancy and for their lack of a definite plan, but it still makes him frown down at the pages in front of him. 

As Kakashi is deciding how to begin wrapping up his letter, his sharp ears catch the sound of running footsteps. He would be worried but the steps, while rushed, are loud. No ninja moves noisily when there is danger so Kakashi is more curious than worried when Sakura comes barreling into the room. 

Her pink hair, longer now, is escaping its messy twist to stick to her cheeks. Her eyes are bright and a grin splits her face. In her hands, clutched close to her chest is a small stack of old looking leather bound books.

Naruto and Sasuke, also having heard their teammate's approach have paused their conversation to stare with slightly confused interest at her.

Finally catching her breath from what must have been a dead sprint from the room she was going through, Sakura exclaims "I found Mito Uzumaki's journals!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya know how sometimes you write something, and you hate it, so your rewrite it four more times and you still don't like it? (: _Anyway_ I'm gonna just throw this at the screen and hope it sticks. 
> 
> Please pardon any punctuation and spelling errors. My Grammar Editor, Lover, is once again being slowly consumed alive by the Collegiate Education System, so it is just I, a lone nerd, against my own wild conceptions of the English language. 
> 
> Next week we'll be doing less, time-jumpy nonsense and instead a lot more Uzushio and Sealing-bullshit nonsense! 
> 
> I hope all my American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving and to all you other folks (hello! have I mentioned it is absolutely bonkers to me that people in countries that I don't live in are reading my little fever dream committed to keyboard?) I hope you have a wonderful non-turkey-related day! I look forward to your comments and questions and contemplations. <3


	18. Behind Every Open Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bring me through the gate. Push on every open doorway. In our minds, we can always find all with the strength that lies behind every open door. 
> 
> \- Open Doors, Awolk 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

"I found Mito Uzumaki's journals!" 

It takes Kakashi a moment to place the name and Sasuke just looks confused but Naruto sits bolt upright, eyes going wide instantly.

"You did?!" 

His voice is loud in the quiet atmosphere that had filled the space. 

Sakura nods rapidly and drops onto the carpeted ground in front of Naruto and Sasuke. She carefully, almost reverently, sets the stack of books on the ground. 

Now that they aren't hidden in Sakura's arms, Kakashi can see that the journals are _old_. That tracks if Sakura's right about who wrote them. Now that he remembers where he’s heard that name before Kakashi can't help but sit forward with curiosity as Naruto picks up and begins thumbing through one of the memoirs of the first Jinchuriki. 

"Are you sure they are actually Mito’s?" Asks Kakashi after a few moments.

Sakura blows some of the hair that's escaped from it's bun out of her face.

"I'm not sure honestly. It's signed with her name but…"

Sasuke, who is peering over Naruto's shoulder at the journal, interrupts, "it's complete nonsense."

"What?!"

Sakura crowds in, bumping her head against Narutos, trying to see so she can read too.  
"It may be in a strange dialect but it can't be…" She peters off into silence, her pink brows dipping together in confusion as she tries to parse through the jumbled Kanji before them. 

Interest piqued, Kakashi reaches between them and grabs one of the yet unopened journals.  
The leather spine creaks with age as he opens it and the smell of dust and old ink reaches his nose.

He looks over the first several lines of text and can immediately see what Sasuke means. Not only do the sentences not make any sense, but there aren't even clear paragraphs. The words seem to be spread about the page in a random jumble with no clear orientation vertically or horizontally. 

"It may be written with a cipher in mind?" Sakura offers hesitantly, then apologetically, "I'm sorry I should have actually looked at them before I came running I just thought-" 

"No, no," that's Naruto, red eyes flicking over the text rapidly, "I think I know how to read this."

"You do?" 

Naruto nods, head tilting thoughtfully. 

Kakashi has come to realize over the past several weeks that it's a gesture the boy tends to use right before saying something that once again reminds Kakashi that Team 7 has more than just Sasuke and Sakura as geniuses among its ranks.

"Sure!" Naruto's voice goes from considerate to bright as he turns a comforting smile to Sakura.  
"Look, the words are organized in a spiral, just like the Uzumaki crest so if we just…" 

One tan finger traces to the center of the page before tapping on a nearly unnoticeable dot of ink.

"Here! Start here and then read counterclockwise!"

Sakura snatches the journal and follows the path Naruto has pointed out with her eyes. Now that he's looking specifically for it Kakashi can see the pattern too, the way the kanji wraps to the center of the page like one of the whirlpools that Uzushio was named after all those decades ago.

"In this I am certain-" Sakura begins, reading slowly aloud from the journal. "The Kyuubi is less beastly and more intelligent than we would have once guessed. Its nature is still elusive to me, but in the way that is based more on obfuscation than otherness. I can say with assuredness that the creature is intentionally obstructing my attempts to navigate the seal that now binds us together." 

Kurama's rumbling laugh interrupts Sakura's reading and Kakashi looks up from watching her to see the now familiar grin of the Fox taking up residence on Naruto's bright face.

The difference between the two has grown even starker to Kakashi's keen perception over the recent months. Though they may speak from the same form, it is _glaringly_ obvious the difference between Kurama and his Jinchuriki.

Naruto's voice has always reminded Kakashi of a bubbling stream, rushing with thoughts more numerous and rapid than can quite be contained within the banks of his sharpened canines. His eyes are wide and expressive. His smiles are frequent and brilliant and every emotion is as obvious as the crimson of his irises.

Kurama is distinctly different. The voice alone is noticeably changed, more like claws on stone, with precise phrasing and sharp tones as opposed to his rambling host. Every feature on Naruto's face seems keener when Kurama is in control, eye's a deeper crimson, whisker marks more pronounced and teeth even more pointed than usual. 

Maybe to someone less familiar the shift wouldn't be so obvious, but for Team 7 it's ...stark.

"Mito was a bitch but she was a perceptive one," Kurama says around sharp teeth.

"So you had been making things difficult for her on purpose?" Asks Sakura, raising one slightly judgemental brow.

The Fox scoffs out a laugh, a shade of some of the first genuine malice they've heard from him in more than a month driving the edge of the sound.

"Of course I did. She and her bastard of a husband shoved me into a ramshackle seal of binding and then on the good days treated me like a bug under a glass and on the bad like a monster. She was certainly brilliant and had more effortless control and strength than any shinobi I've met since but I would have happily broken every bone in her body between my teeth." 

Team 7 processes that, slowly. 

Kakashi would be amused by the way that Sasuke doesn't quite manage to suppress an audible gulp and Sakura's curious eyes widen with alarm but he's feeling the same disquiet.

It's a hell of a reminder that the Fox is no tame creature, no pet they've managed to bring to heel. He's certainly decided to tolerate Kakashi and his pups for some reason but in the grand scheme of things, the creature that is bound to Naruto is as friendly as a wildfire and twice as devastating.

Seemingly deciding that she'd rather avoid opening that can of worms further, Sakura thumbs through several pages of the journal, opening to a random section.

She reads for a few moments and as she does her eyebrows climb slightly in surprised, considerate silence. 

Kakashi knows that look.

"Sakura?"

The girl doesn't respond for several beats, still reading whatever text is before her.  
When she responds, it's directed to the Kyuubi, not her Sensei. 

"Kurama, did you know she was writing theories about you and your abilities in here?" 

That seems to catch the Fox by surprise. He leans forward as Sakura turns the journal toward him. Red eyes flicking quickly over the spiraling account.

Kurama blinks, nearly looking _surprised_.

Kakashi cannot stop himself from leaning to try and see what's on the page. He catches the words 'shifuto' and 'kagami' almost immediately.

Sasuke, who is doing the exact same thing as him, sharingan spinning lazily as he digests the information of the page, asks, "the Kyuubi is a shapeshifter?" 

"Well specifically Mito seems to think that the Kyuubi Jinchuriki could have shapeshifting abilities," Sakura hedges.

Kurama sits back on his heels, a contemplative look in his bright eyes. Kakashi gets the sense that if they could see the Fox's tails they'd be whipping side to side in agitation.

"I do have shapeshifting abilities in my unsealed form. As a Kitsune it is in my nature." Kurama sounds considerate and still a little baffled. "I had no idea that Mito had theorized that specific ability could extend to one of my captors though...I don't even remember her writing this. How…"

Sakura isn't quite smirking when she answers but the light in her eyes is still just as challenging. 

"Well you said that you hid things from her awareness, who's to say she didn't do the same to you?"

Kurama looks completely flabbergasted which is a hysterically strange expression for a being of such immeasurable power to wear. 

"Naruto can shapeshift?!" Sasuke sounds incredulous.

Kakashi really doesn't blame him.

"It would explain how he invented the Orioke so young and with so little experience." Sakura is flipping through the pages again, the same nearly manic excitement with which she approaches Fuinjutsu growing on her face. "He was subconsciously predisposed to the ability because of Kurama. His body knew changing shape was something he should be able to do and so he found a way to do it even without formalized training." 

"But he can already change his appearance with Oikiore, what's special about whatever thing Mito is writing about?" 

Another fair inquiry on Sasuke's front as far as Kakashi is concerned.

"Because it's not just changing appearance." That's Kurama, still looking as close to shell shocked as possible for an embodiment of calamity. "A Kitsune's shape changing is absolute, it's-"

One of Sakura's calloused pale hands slaps over Kurama's mouth as, grinning like a mad woman she says, "Wait wait, don't spoil the surprise." 

Kakashi, staring in vague horror at Sakura's blatant and joyful disregard for the personal space and autonomy of the _Kyuubi no Kitsune_ , starts "Sakura maybe you should not-"

She cuts him off too.

"Kurama, give Naruto control back." 

One part annoyance, one part acceptance and three parts mischief, the Fox obeys.( _Obeys_ , the most powerful spirit in all the elemental nations bowing to the whims of his thirteen year old student. Kakashi really needs to find a strong drink)

There is the familiar shift and it's suddenly Naruto blinking at them all. 

He gives a sheepish but excited smile. 

"Alright it's me now, what did you want me to try Sakura?"

The girl in question is practically vibrating in her skin.

"Try turning into me right now."

Naruto wrinkles his nose "I mean I've never really used the Oiroke that way before-"

"Ne, trust me Naruto? Please?" And there is a weight to that, a broader deeper reaching question almost. 

Naruto doesn't hesitate further, only nods with a bright smile and an "Okay, Sakura." 

And then he transforms with the puff of white smoke that Kakashi has watched many times before.

Never before like this though, because as the smoke clears another Sakura is sitting in front of them. Kakashi has seen a thousand clone jutsus over his life, some even near perfect. They never actually are perfect though because a clone is, by definition, an imperfect reflection of the original. There is always _something_ that gives it away. 

It's why things like scent wards and identification seals can work at all. Even henging into someone doesn't allow a ninja to copy everything about them. Scent is only one such marker. Chakra nature, chakra density and flow, yin or yang saturation, scars, mannerisms, patterns of speech and a dozen other things are all are factors that go into making every individual shinobi, or civilian for that matter, unique.

It's always been as good as a law of chakra, a universal constant for shinobi.

Until now.

Kakashi blinks. Stares. Stares a little harder. Uncovers his Sharingan and takes careful sniffs at the air. He pays close attention to the chakra signatures active in the room. It doesn't make a difference.

If he didn't know for a fact that Sakura was sitting on his left and Naruto on his right he would be completely unable to tell the original from the copy.

"Oh I hate this _so_ much," laments Sasuke and Sakura (the real one) grins at the exact same moment, saying,"this is the best thing ever."

Kakashi feels like he may have to rewrite his letter to Iruka.

Naruto blinks Sakura's pretty jade eyes at his team and it's insane, because Kakashi's brain _knows_ intellectually that's _Naruto_ and not Sakura, but he'll be damned if even such a stereotypically Uzumaki expression doesn't perfectly transcribe via some aspect of whatever this ability is to one Sakura has worn many times.

"Why does this feel so different than my normal Oiroke?" the Jinchuriki asks, turning his arms over to inspect them and then tilting his head side to side, feeling the unfamiliar weight of nearly shoulder-length, pink hair.

Sakura (the real one still) hops to her feet and, grabbing Naruto’s hands, pulls her teammate to his feet. She swings them around the room with a bright laugh and Kakashi and Sasuke watch the two pink heads with wide eyes, trying to keep straight who is who. Kakashi feels a little like he’s back at the Rinne festival with Team Minato, trying to guess under which shuffling cup was hidden the marble. 

Sakura (maybe the real one? He's not positive anymore) grins. 

"Don't you all see what a big deal this is?"

Sasuke shakes his head blankly. There is a pronounced furrow of frustration between his brows as he looks between the two Sakura copies and Kakashi would find more amusement in his struggle if he wasn't so baffled himself.

Naruto (yes that one _has_ to be Naruto...he thinks) says, "I mean, it's really cool Sakura but I don't get why it's such a big deal honestly?" 

"Naruto, what are your chakra natures?" 

The blonde, er, pinkette blinks at her in confusion at the suddenness of the inquiry. Kakashi suddenly understands what she may be getting at though and his own eyes widen. Because if Naruto's chakra is indistinguishable from Sakura's with this ability then…

"Wind and Fire?" Naruto offers.

“Mine,” Sakura points at herself. "are earth and water, your polar opposites." 

"Yeah I knew that-"

"Try and do an earth Jutsu right now." 

"Sakura you know I'm shit at those, the chakra moves too slow and I've never gotten it right and-"

"Naruto! Just try!"

"Fine!" The Jinchuriki throws his hands up in surrender and then brings them together to flash through several familiar signs.

"Doton, Rikujou Douyou!"

There is a rush of chakra and it's Sakura's chakra but the girl in question is just standing there practically radiating smug excitement.

Naruto perfectly executes the earth jutsu. 

The rumbling, vibrating earth is loud in the enclosed space of the archives and for a second Kakashi has to quell the rising, panic-flavored memories of a long ago cave in and everything it wrought. It's a little easier than it may normally be because Naruto (yes that one is still _definitely_ maybe Naruto) is looking at his hands in shock and Sasuke is quietly whispering "what the _fuck_ " and Sakura is leaping around in circles whooping like an excited child.

"I can do Earth style Jutsu now?" Naruto asks in bafflement.

Sakura, scooping up Mito's journal and brandishing it like a weapon, grins. 

"Not just Earth style! What if you turned into Sasuke? Or Kakashi Sensei? Or a _Kage_. You can do _any_ Jutsu."

Naruto is staring at her mouth hanging open and Sasuke, sounding like he's in physical pain says, "I feel like I need to lay down." 

Kakashi however is finally starting to catch up with Sakura, and by extension, Mito Uzimaki's, train of thought. He runs a considering hand along his jaw as he looks at the Sakura-copy and asks "could he use clan techniques then? Bloodlines? Like the Sharingan?"

Sakura is pacing now. Her enthusiasm shines from her face and her hands flutter through the air as if she is sorting the ideas as they come to her.

Kakashi has to suppress another memory of Obito working through puzzles in the same way, with the same nearly frenetic energy.

"Possibly," Sakura tells the room at large. "I'd have to read more of what Mito-san wrote and really it all depends on the structure of Naruto's seal and what kinds of chakra manipulation it will allow for. If I had to conjecture I would guess that special techniques are outside his scope simply because of time limits and familiarity and such but maybe with proper training and-"

"Sakura?" 

There is another puff of white smoke and regular, blonde, red eyed Naruto is standing and smiling somewhat sheepishly at his rambling teammate.

"Hm?" Sakura blinks at him, startled from her enthusiastic tirade. 

"You're kinda freakin' me out a little. Can we take this one step at a time?" 

Sakura flushes immediately in embarrassment and sends him an apologetic grin.

"Yes, of course. Sorry I got carried away."

"Nah, that's fine, it's just a _lot_ you know? And honestly shifting felt kinda funny and not in like a good way." 

Sasuke, who has either shaken off his bafflement or buried it deep, deep down where he doesn't have to deal with it, a method that’s success Kakashi himself can attest to, intones,  
"It may not be a good idea to try again with the Eight Trigrams so unstable at the moment."

Sakura droops further and even Kakashi feels guilty this time. Somehow he'd forgotten about the state of the seal in the excitement of discovering Mito's journals.

Naruto, seeing the way the excitement leeches out of his pink haired teammate, offers thoughtfully, "Hey maybe there will be answers in the journals for the seal too?"

Sakura perks back up immediately.

"Maybe! Kurama what do you think?" 

There's a pause as the fox shifts to take control again, tapping tan fingers thoughtfully against Naruto's chin as he considers the question.

"Mito wasn't a Seal Master by any stretch but she was the student of several and, more importantly, she was directly involved with the creation of my first seal of binding. There's a chance she would have had ideas…"

"-And that's just what we need!" Sakura is pacing again, the brightness back in her eyes. "If I can read enough alternative sealing theories for containing a bijuu, specifically you Kurama, I may be able to more or less reverse engineer a seal that functions how we need it to."

"You could?" Kakashi is really trying to keep the doubt out of his voice because he doesn't want her to think he's underestimating or undervaluing her but … "Sakura, Binding Seals, especially ones that are made to contain bijuu are….insanely complicated. From what I remember hearing from Kushina, it took _several_ seal masters to craft the seal that was put on her and she and Minato and Jiraiya spent years building the theories that went into the Eight Trigrams and it still turned out incomplete. This isn't some Academy exam or interesting puzzle you can overcome with just conviction and..." he pauses, trying to find a gentler alternative and failing, “bullheadedness.” 

Sakura considers this, her heightened energy slowing and the mood in the den darkening. 

Finally, she asks, voice clear and composed, "Kurama, how long does the Eight Trigrams have before it completely breaks down?" 

Kakashi's heart skips a beat. It's a question none of them have dared to speak aloud until now, and they should have because the answer is so critical to what they do moving forward but…

There is quiet for several beats until Kurama's rumbling voice comes, "One year. One and a half at most." 

The words bounce against the stone walls, filling the space and echoing to strike again and again like blows.

One year. One year for the five of them to somehow learn enough about Fuinjutsu and specifically the most secretive and challenging part of the study, to repair a seal that houses one of the most powerful spirits on the planet. 

None of them have to say what happens if they don't succeed. The memory of Naruto collapsed, pale and shaking, on the grass of the Hatake compound as his seal burned with the corrupted light of a dying star is fresh enough in all their minds.

Kakashi feels fear, sharper and more poignant than he's felt since they came to Uzushio. What they need to do is impossible. 

With the resources and skills and manpower they have, there is no way he can see that they can swing it. Sakura may be interested in seals, but she has absolutely no formalized training and he certainly can't teach her. They'll need to get help, to go to one of the other Elemental Nations or possibly Orochimaru and beg for assistance or do something or Naruto will-

"Okay," says Sakura, interrupting his spiral. 

Kakashi's eyes flash to her, incredulous. There's no way she can think this is something that is in her realm of capabilities. 

He's never known Sakura to be prideful though, and his students' shoulders are relaxed, face turned partially away from him as she looks thoughtfully at Naruto. Mito's journal is in one of her hands, and the other is tucked in the pocket of her grey sweatpants. 

She looks calm, composed, and Kakashi is trying to tell if she's joking or if she doesn't understand how insurmountable this hurdle is. 

She turns to him and Kakashi feels his eyes widen in response.

Kakashi has seen her determined before. That morning, now so long ago, in front of the Hatake compound, the light of dawn on her face and fire in her eyes, rises to the forefront of his thoughts. She had been determined then. 

But this is different. It's that same fire that he can see in her now but it's sharpened, focused. 

This isn't pride, it isn't an underestimation of the problem, it isn't even determination. It is certainty. 

Kakashi can see in her face, as clear as he saw that sunrise so many mornings ago, that she _will_ do this.

He has to be sure though, because he will not gamble the life of one of his precious people and so he quietly asks, "Sakura, you're sure? There isn't room for error in this." 

If she was anyone else her pause would sow doubt in his mind like a particularly invasive weed but for her…

"Give me five months," Sakura tells the room after a beat. 

"And then you'll know if it's possible?" That's Sasuke and the clench of his hands in his lap, the tension that coils visibly up and down his spine, shows that this is no easier for him than it is for Kakashi. It may even be harder considering his history with Sakura and his penchant for distrust, especially regarding those things precious to him.

Sakura turns her impossible jade eyes towards the Uchiha now, and the firm set of her mouth softens a little though the fire doesn't. 

"No. I know it's possible, but by then I'll also know if I need help."

Sasuke doesn't look entirely convinced but then again, neither is Kakashi. 

"Do you even know what you want the new seal to be able to do? Are there any specifics we have at all?" The quietly anxious edge is creeping closer and closer to the surface of Sasuke's voice and Kakashi thinks that even though it's a good question, soon he's going to have to either put a pause to this conversation or tell Sasuke to take a walk to get his anxiety under check. 

"I…" Sakura stops pacing, and bites her lip. "Actually I'm not sure. Naruto, Kurama what do you want from the new seal?" 

There is an awkward silence and Kakashi wonders if Kurama and his blonde student existed in seperate bodies if they'd be looking at each other waiting for the other to speak.

"Uhhh…" begins Naruto's voice finally. "We haven't really gotten a chance to talk about it, but obviously I'd like for the seal to hurt less and I'd like for Kurama to have full access to all his chakra and really any other freedoms? I mean ideally we could just let him out all the way but I'm pretty sure he's said before that would just kill me?" 

Kakashi thinks he may be the only one who notices Sasuke's eyes flare with the red of the Sharingan and his clenched hands tighten further in his lap. The boy doesn't say anything though, still holding it together, and so Kakashi lets him be.

"Yeah, that makes sense with how your current seal is anchored unfortunately." Sakura is flipping through the journal in her hands again, brow furrowed. "It's certainly another aspect of the seal we are going to have to figure out."

Time to simplify and summarize, thinks Kakashi.

"Right so broad team goals at the moment are as follows; one, don't get caught and killed."

"Wow, really? I hadn't realized that was on the docket," Sasuke bites out, head tilted back toward the sealing and eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Kakashi ignores him, allowing the Uchiha his defensive sharpness. He won't fault the boy for managing his anxiety to the best of his abilities. 

"Two, keep getting stronger so that when eventually we _do_ get caught, we _won't_ get killed."

This time it's Naruto who interjects, popping his knuckles and grinning wide and bright.

"We can do that for sure! Damn Konoha won't know what hit 'em if they come after us!"

Kakashi watches Sasuke's face soften at the familiar brashness and a small smile tugs across Sakura's focused demeanor as well. 

Kakashi doesn't know what they would do without Naruto's bulldozing optimism.

"Three, we figure out how to safely remove, rebuild and perfect Naruto's seal."

Sakura snaps Mito's journal shut and in a voice that sounds so much older, so much more weighty and unflinching than someone her age should be able to summon, promises, "I won't let you all down." 

"And all of us will help too." Kakashi gives all three of his kids the most genuine smile he can summon. "I managed to figure out how to remove a curse mark on my lonesome so, though I may not be as seal minded as you, Sakura, I'll still do what I can." Carefully, making sure she's looking at him as he speaks, he continues. "This doesn't all fall on your shoulders alone. We are in this _together_." 

Sakura blinks at him, the flicker of fear that Kakashi knows is still twined with her certainty flaring brighter for a moment. 

Naruto bounds over to his pink haired friend and bumps his shoulder against hers like an excited puppy. "Yeah! Together! We got out of the Leaf and handled the curse mark in only a month! We got more than a year for my seal so we've definitely got this!"

"Don't jinx it, Dobe." Sasuke pushes to his feet, graceful through the fear that Kakashi knows he's still fighting. 

Naruto sticks his tongue out at the other boy and Sakura, still clutching the journal, softens even further.

Kakashi watches them carefully as Naruto grins and loops an arm around her neck and sticks a fist bump out to Sasuke who wanders closer, pulled by the gravity of a sharp toothed smile and a love that has no room for doubt.

Kakashi looks down at his letter to Iruka, still resting on the couch next to him. He had been wondering how to wrap it up, how to put a concise bow on the changes of the past month.

He looks back up at his kids.

At Sakura, brilliant like fire and twice as certain but still, still fighting against the belief that she has to make up for something, has to prove that she deserves to be standing with them, deserves to be trusted and depended on.

At Naruto, strong and steady even as he buries the pain of loss and the fear of what's to come behind smiles and love for what they are building.

At Sasuke, better than he's ever been but still too sharp, too brittle and unsure how to navigate the difference between vulnerability and weakness.

His kids. 

Kakashi picks up the pen and carefully at the bottom of the page writes, "We're getting stronger, and better, and we've got a long way to go still. We miss you." 

He watches the ink dry as Sasuke and Sakura start bickering over something and Naruto bounces on the balls of his feet, grinning and interjecting every few seconds.

They'll be okay, but they have a lot to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dears! Welcome back to your one-stop 'Sealing and Jinchuriki Nonsense' shop! I've always felt that the bijuu powers were a little uh... lame? Lame in canon, so we are expanding em! Like don't get me wrong Naruto is already hella strong and the goal isn't to make him overpowered _but_ I just think that having a centuries-old spirit of nearly immeasurable strength bonded with your soul, especially if said spirit is very fond of you would, probably mean some pretty nice perks. 
> 
> Anywho! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Poor Kakashi really thought that finally reaching Uzushio would mean that his kids acted less batshit insane. C'est la vie my good sir, Team 7 operates at batshit insane as a constant baseline. :Dc
> 
> Special shoutout this week to Lover and Flightless who, despite being in FINALS SEASON, are still helping me edit this beast of a fic. Everyone please send them good vibes as their respective classes try very hard to send them to an early grave! 
> 
> Next Thursday you can look forward to a Sasuke-centric chapter which means _drama_. Sending hugs to you all and I look forward to your deductions, refelections and speculations. <3<3<3


	19. Something I Am Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't help but think, there must be something I am missing. See when I lay my head to sleep, a voice inside keeps whispering, he says, are you where you want to be?
> 
> \- My Life My Love, Family and Friends 
> 
> TW; depictions and discussions of panic attacks 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

Sasuke had thought he was getting better. Scratch that, he _knows_ he has been getting better. His time in the Uzushio Archives has been some of the most peaceful he has felt since the destruction of his clan. Sasuke’s nightmares are fewer and he hasn't had a single panic attack in the entire time here. Well, hadn't had one.

It’s such a stupid thing. Small. Unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

It shouldn't have been a big deal at all.

And yet.

They had been sparring as a team. It’s something they do every single day. Kakashi is not wrong in saying that they need to be ready for when their luck runs out and someone catches up with them.

They are going to have to fight and they are going to have to win because if they don’t they're all as good as dead or worse.

There is no room for error, and there so rarely is in the life of a Shinobi, but now, with just the four of them against basically the world…well Sasuke already knows the feeling of losing everything once and he would rather die than feel it again.

So the four of them have been training and getting stronger.

Naruto is steadier than he's ever been. His taijutsu is fierce and unpredictable and he hits like a fucking landslide. He's learned nearly a dozen new jutsu in the span of the past three weeks and Sasuke knows that Kakahsi has many more lined up in the wings once the Jinchuriki has perfected this first set.

Sakura is improving in leaps and bounds too. She hasn't figured out how to effectively incorporate her Fuinjutsu into her fighting style yet, and so instead she's doubled down on other aspects of her martial prowess. She may not be as fast as Sasuke or hit as hard as Naruto but she makes up for it in strategy and perfect form. Watching Sakura fight is like watching a textbook demonstration of deadliness come to life.

According to Kakashi they are easily Chunin level and still improving by leaps and bounds every week.

Both of Sasuke’s teammates are amazing and he's proud of them, happy for them.

But buried under all the peace of being away from Konoha, safe in the archives and among people he cares deeply for, Sasuke feels like he's drowning in mud. 

He already was so strong for his age and Kakashi tells him that he's making good progress. Sasuke is a _genius_ as everyone around him in Konoha always insisted on reminding him. While the praise was certainly one part simpering idiots trying to get on the last Uchihas good side it was never unfounded either.

He has always been at the front of the pack so he's not used to feeling like he's falling behind. But watching Naruto and Sakura grow so explosively, while he maintains the same steady strength and "genuis" he's always had makes Sasuke feel like the fucking walls are closing in around him. 

He’s still learning and improving. He knows this. His medical ninjutsu gets better every day but it's not _enough_. Even if he genuinely enjoys healing and knows intellectually that it may be the thing that keeps him from losing what's precious to him again, it feels like shit all in the face of Sakura's deadly precision or Naruto's blooming strength.

Sasuke wakes nearly every night with the sound of Itachi's voice whispering like a phantom in the air and the word "weak" drawing tight round his throat like a noose. 

He's been trying to avoid the fear. He’s positive he doesn't always succeed by the worried looks he gets from his teammates and the careful, considerate ones he gets from his Sensei.

But he tries anyway, and he works twice as hard to make up for his failures. 

It’s not enough. During their evening spar, Sakura, once the last person he would ever worry about beating him, manages to break through his guard. She sends him flying backwards into a wall and something inside Sasuke snaps.

She is rushing to him immediately after it's happened, useless stupid apologies and concerns on her lips and a hand extended to help him up. Maybe she can see how pale he's gone, how frantic his eyes.

He slaps her hand away and forces his trembling legs to help him stand.

Everything sounds like it's underwater, ringing and distant to his ears.

Sakura's eyes are hurt at his rejection but she's trying to push through, asking if he's okay, if she _injured him_.

He understands that she's trying to help, but it makes it so much worse, that she even could do damage to him, that she feels the need to worry about him. 

Kakashi is walking quickly toward them and Naruto is hurrying past him, both their faces concerned and caring and unblaming and Sasuke _can't_.

So he turns and he runs.

He can hear them shouting behind him, can hear Naruto rushing to try and keep up, but Sasuke has always been faster. 

He finds a random passage way and sprints like he hasn't in a long time. 

He doesn't look which way he's going or try to follow a logical path. He just darts deeper into the twisting darkness of the Uzushio archives. Small dim lights flicker on as he rushes past, triggered by proximity seals. Sasuke never spares them a glance, simply fleeing blindly deeper into the mountain. 

He finally stops running after what feels like only a few moments but may be closer to ten minutes. Time feels unsteady. He's further back into the caves than he's ever been, than any of them have been. Here the floor is still covered in a thick layer of dust that's been undisturbed by their presence so far.

Some slightly less panicking part of Sasuke’s brain suggests that he finds a new scroll or book for Sakura as an apology for the way he’s turned her success into a _problem_.

God, he's an asshole.

A weak, useless asshole.

His team is growing stronger and here he is, barely any new skills to speak of and he can't even be excited about their success without fucking it up. 

His vision swims again under the assault of his anxiety and self loathing and he veers out of the main tunnel into a random enclave crammed with shelves. He crashes to the ground, back against a shelf. Each breath feels as though it's being yanked from his chest by a fishing hook and his thoughts spiral uselessly like a stupid little dog chasing its tail.

Desperately trying to shake the screaming loose from his brain Sasuke thunks his head back against the wood harshly, eyes squeezed tightly shut. 

He's so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice the scroll roll from where it was set on the shelf above him until it falls and lands directly on top of his head.

Sasuke flinches in surprise, eyes flashing open to take in the dark grey and silver capped parchment that sits innocently on the floor where it’s come to a stop in front of him.

Baffled curiosity suspending his panic for a moment, he reaches forward and grabs the offending piece of paper. He unrolls it in his lap.

From what he can tell after glancing over it for a few moments, the scroll looks and feels like a Sealing Contract. The old document is all curling, sprawling kanji with paragraphs upon paragraphs of promises, details and stipulations. Furthermore, there is a latent buzz of Chakra embedded in the scroll itself, a soft hum of energy like a small, sleeping creature. 

Sealing contracts are rare. Most animals and yokai that will bond with shinobi only offer a half-dozen contracts in total, some even less. 

Sasuke's vision is still swimming too much to read the details that are laid out before him but he’s drawn to the solitary paw print at the bottom of the page. It’s wider and more contained than the print of one of Kakashi's ninken, with the impression of short, sharp claws left in the ink.

The print rests next to a blank seal mark, circular and complex on the outside with an inviting open space at its center. Sasuke can recognize a Seal of Binding when he sees one. It’s a seal that takes blood and turns it oath, something powerful and life-changing that should take careful consideration and planning. 

Sasuke isn't sure if it's because of his still spiking anxiety or because of some other recklessness that the past months of uncertainty have allowed to root in his soul, but with barely a thought he raises a thumb to his mouth and with a harsh clip of his teeth draws a stream of blood.

Without allowing his logical mind to rear its head and ask what the fuck he thinks he's doing, Sasuke drops his thumb to the Binding Seal and presses the blood into the blank space.

Nothing happens for several seconds and he wonders if this contract is too old. Then there is a sound like the strangest cross between shattering glass and the rush of wind and light flares bright enough that Sasuke clenches his eyes shut. He doesn’t release his grip on the sealing contract though. 

The smell of summoning smoke fills the small room and Sasuke's ears immediately pick up the sound of another creatures breathing.

He's almost scared to open his eyes and see what he's done.

“Are you the human that called me here?” A silvery voice asks. 

Sasuke cracks one eye open.

Sat on the ground before him, four paws gathered together under its body neatly and bright golden eyes locked on Sasuke, is a small cat.

It has dark grey fur with the slightest stripes of a lighter grey down its face and spine and its fur is soft and thick looking. As Sasuke watches for a few beats longer in baffled silence, a tail, no scratch that, two tails, sweep out from behind the small animal stirring the thick dust into little whirls. 

The cat tilts its head examining Sasuke just as Sasuke is examining it. It gives the air a careful sniff before offering somewhat curiously, “You seem like you are very upset.” 

Oh right, Sasuke was in the middle of having a panic attack. 

The wave of distress rises again, picking up right where it left off before Sasuke _impulsively agreed to a binding contract with an unknown Sealing Species_. 

Kakashi is going to kill him. 

Sasuke folds forward, breath coming in pants as he tries to get enough air into his spasming chest. Maybe there isn’t enough air this deep in the caves. Maybe he’s gone too far and this is how Sasuke Uchiha is finally going to die, alone and in the dark and just as uselessly as the rest of his family did. 

Darkness crashes in around the edges of his vision and all Sasuke knows is fear. 

It stays that way for a while. 

After, he really doesn’t know how many minutes, he starts to calm down a little. He’s sore and stiff from sitting on the stone floor and he’s cold and exhausted. Above all that however, the first sensation that funnels in through the static and emptiness is...purring. 

Sasuke opens his eyes and sits up slightly from his hunched over position to find that the little grey cat is curled in his lap practically vibrating with the fierceness of its purrs. Sasuke doesn’t remember it climbing onto him. Considering how he had curled forward under the weight of his panic attack it must have forced its way under his arms to be closer to him. 

To help him.

Golden eyes blink open and glance up at him, looking over his face with careful consideration. There is no judgement in those eyes, no pity. Sasuke is completely floored. 

“Are you better now summoner?” the grey cat asks.

“Why did you help me?” Sasuke responds instead of answering. He knows he’s being rude but he doesn’t get it.

“Because you were hurting and you signed our contract. Caring for you is my job now, as it is yours to care for me and mine.” The cat offers and it doesn’t talk to Sasuke like this is something he should have known which would be fair considering he signed the contract. But it doesn’t.

Sasuke stares at the creature some more. It’s...very small. Now that it’s resting on top of him Sasuke can feel that it weighs no more than a handful of kunai. It’s fur is impossibly, distractingly soft and its two tails flip gently side to side. 

“What’s your name?” Sasuke finally manages to get out. He notices that the soft grey fur of the little cat has clumped on the side where Sasuke had cried into its fur. 

The creature doesn't seem upset about this, instead pushing up from Sasuke’s lap until it's seated again, furred face only inches away from his.

“I am Mika of the Northern Mountain Nekomata. My dam was Ryo of the Wide Planes Nekomata and my sire is Haruo of the Northern Mountain Nekomata.” 

Sasuke blinks several times taking all this in. The cat waits patiently as he does.

“Okay...Mika. You are...a girl?” 

It’s a shot in the dark but the cat gives a quiet rumbling purr almost like a laugh. 

“I am, summoner.”

“Okay. Great.” 

The good news is Sasuke no longer feels like he’s having a panic attack. The bad news is he does feel like in the conversation he is currently having with this _cat_ he is proving to be the less effective communicator of the two of them. 

“Summorer?”

“Yes? Yes. Sorry. What is it.” 

Sasuke feels redness climb onto his pale cheeks as that quiet rumbling laugh sounds again. 

“What is your name?”

Sasuke would absolutely be smacking himself in the face if it wouldn’t make an even worse impression than he’s already managed so far.

“I’m Sasuke Uchiha.” 

He wonders if he should be listing his family off like Mika did, but all things considered, he’d really really rather not. 

Mika blinks at him in surprise, “An Uchiha? We were led to believe that all of your people were killed.”

Sasuke flinches before quietly managing “Almost all of us. It’s just me and…” he has to fight through the words, even now, even knowing that Itachi is no monster “...my older brother.” 

Mika nods thoughtfully and then says “Losing family is hard. It puts a hole in you. My dam died when I was only a kitten. I understand and mourn your loss.”

Sasuke finds that, unlike in the past when people have tried to offer their sympathies and condolences, he actually believes that Mika cares.

"Thank you." He tells the little feline quietly.

She flicks her ears at him and gives another rumbling purr. 

"What can you and your...pack? Is it a pack? Sorry I've never had a summons before...or a cat."

Mika raises one furred brow at him. It's a strangely human expression on the face of the feline but Sasuke feels like he's not allowed to point fingers about strangeness at the moment.

"My people are a… hmm" Mika seems to struggle for a moment, her two tails flipping in irritation " there isn't a proper word in your language for what we call ourselves as a group, so I guess clan is the closest thing, and we aren’t really cats in the traditional sense. What you know as the Ninneko are our distant cousins. We hold no grudges against them but my clan, the Nekomata are less..." she pauses again, considering, before finally offering “tame.”

Sasuke isn’t sure exactly how wild and threatening the small grey ball of fluff in his lap could really be, even if she has two tails instead of one. 

"Right. What can you and your clan do then, like what are your abilities?"

Almost as if she's repeating something from memory Mika says primly, "We of the Nekomata are fast and dexterous. We have chakra enhanced claws and sharp teeth that allow us to do great damage. The more powerful of us can shapeshift and disappear into shadows and some of us can manipulate natural chakra to heal or harm."

Her ears flick back for a moment in what seems to be embarrassment. 

"I myself am only a juvenile. My litter was born two springs ago so I am still learning. However, my older brother and sisters, as well as other members of our clan will be a great asset to you in battle." 

"You've already helped more than you know, honestly." Sasuke tells her.

It's strange how genuinely he means the comfort too. Usually he doesn't much care for babying others in their feelings but something about the guileless golden eyes blinking up at him and the tears drying in grey fur make him feel that he may owe it to this little creature. 

"I…" she looks a little confused, "I really didn't do anything. At least nothing that even our civilian mothers can do for their kittens when they are distressed."

"Providing comfort and support _is_ something though." Sasuke finds himself arguing, " for shinobi, without support nin and healers we would die young and foolishly."

Mika considers this, "Hmmm, perhaps. And what is it _you do_ Summoner san?"

Somewhat startled by the change of topic and still off balance, Sasuke is about to open his mouth and spit that he doesn't do anything that he's weak and useless, but then he pauses and thinks about what he insisted on only a moment ago.

"I'm… a healer." He says quietly.

Mika's golden eyes are discerning and warm and Sasuke feels like they are laying his vulnerabilities open in the gentlest way possible.

"Well then your clan is lucky to have you." She tells him assuredly.

Sasuke is still spiralling. This whole time he's been thinking of healing as something that was a desperate stop gap against the threat of loss, not something that actually made him strong or made him able to protect the people he loves.

He’s been watching Naruto learn to hit harder and Sakura learn to kill easier and decided that his efforts were nothing in comparison. Somewhere along the way, he convinced himself that there was less value in learning to heal a broken bone than there was in learning to break it. 

But he was, _is_ , wrong and his team has been trying to tell him so for weeks. Kakashi by smiling as he apologizes for not being able to assist more with his readings and in the same breath thanking Sasuke for his efforts. Sakura by stumbling to find him in his room late at night when her studies have kept her up as late as him to "offer a chance at some practical experience curing migraines." Naruto by cheering with excitement the first time Sasuke's hands had glowed a soft green over the injured seal they had found together on the coast. Kurama by gruffly, regularly, pointing him towards places where there may be more texts on anatomy and trauma care and medical ninjutsu. 

His team has spent the past month telling him in every way they could that they value the path he's chosen, that they see it as necessary.

This whole time Sasuke has thought himself weak for not learning to deal death like Kakashi, like Itachi.

But maybe...he was wrong. 

The memory strikes him then. It slips past the guards he has placed so carefully around his childhood, the self inflicted amnesia he strives for in thoughts of the child he had once been and of the person he had once loved more than anything else in the world.

Itachi was always so careful to avoid exposing Sasuke to the horrors of the life he lived. People talked about his big brother's genius like some gift from the heavens, but Itachi never seemed to see it in that light. 

This particular night Sasuke, five years old and supposed to be in bed asleep, had snuck out to the back porch to watch the fireflies.

There is no way Itachi hadn't heard him coming. Sasuke had only the most basic of ninja training then and his steps were loud and inexperienced. 

Still, his older brother hadn't fled and hadn't tried to hide. Now looking back, Sasuke finds himself wondering if it was because the then eleven year old was simply too tired to care or if he wanted Sasuke to see what being a shinobi brought you.

Or maybe Itachi just needed to be comforted and didn't know any other way to ask.

When Sasuke had stepped onto the moonlit porch and spotted his older sibling, he had thought the other boy was covered in dark ink at first. The cool light of the moon above made the blood look darker, less vibrantly red than it actually was.

Sasuke walked forward, reaching young, worried fingers for his big brother.

"Aniki? Are you okay?"

Itachi hadn't looked at him even as Sasuke's small hand came to rest on his blood soaked sleeve. Sasuke was old enough to know that his brother was supposed to be on a big important Jonin mission until tomorrow afternoon, and yet here he was, sat like a statue on the Uchiha family porch, covered in slowly drying blood and staring blankly at the moon.

Sasuke hadn't known what to do, hadn't even really understood why his big brother was upset. So he had just done what he normally did when Itachi came home from a mission which was to climb into his lap and tell the older boy about his day.

Sasuke had talked, about the frog he had caught at recess and about the kunai throwing lessons he had with Dad and about the yakisoba Mom made for dinner and about how he was sure there were leftovers for Itachi in the fridge. Itachi just sat and listened, still except for the fine trembles that ran through him occasionally and the slightest hitching breaths.

After a while, Sasuke doesn't remember how long, only remembers his young eyes starting to grow heavy and his ramblings less cohesive, Itachi had finally spoken.

One of his bloody hands had come up to run through Sasuke's hair tenderly. His voice was always so quiet, so gentle, and even in that moment, when the older boy was clearly teetering on the edge of a darkness so deep that even the Sharingan couldn't make out the bottom of it, he had sounded kind.

"Sasuke if you ever get the chance, if you can ever find a way to do it that won't kill you...run from this life as fast and as far as you can. The life of a shinobi is...well, you can't call what a shinigami does 'life' by definition."

He'd closed his haunted eyes then. Clenching them tight against some horror that Sasuke could neither see nor understand.

"Nii-san? I don't.." he started but Itachi had just shushed him, dropping his face into Sasuke's messy dark hair and wrapping shaking arms tight around him.

"Don't be like me Otouto. Don't make death the only thing you have to offer."

The memory breaks and Sasuke finds that his face is wet with tears. It's been a long time since Sasuke let himself remember something about Itachi that wasn't the way his hands looked covered in their parents blood or the way his voice had sounded as cold and disinterested as ice when he told Sasuke to live only to grow strong enough to kill him. 

When he’d called him weak.

Mika is watching him thoughtfully as he reaches up to wipe his eyes.

"Sorry just...must be the dust." Sasuke tries even though something tells him that the grey cat is going to see right through it.

"Mhm." Mika agrees, "Very dusty in here. Terrible for the eyes and nose." 

Sasuke nods and gives the cat an honest if slightly damp smile.

"Thank you. For showing up and helping and...I don't know, not making me feel like a weakling." 

Mika tilts her head, "Do the people in your clan often make you feel like a weakling?"

Sasuke thinks again about his team, about how they depend on him, reach out to him for help, trust him to watch their backs and keep them safe.

"No. They treat me like I'm strong."

"Then you are strong." Mika afrims.

"No," Sasuke says and the whispers of worthlessness and run-away-before-you-break-this-too that have followed him here all the way from Konoha and the blood stained halls of his family home rear their ugly head again and Sasuke finally hears them for what they are. 

Lies. Excuses. Fear. 

"No," he says again and smiles at the little grey cat this time, "I'm not strong yet. But I'm going to get strong. For them, and for me." 

Mika smiles her small, curled cat smile. 

"The Nekomata will be right there with you, Summoner." 

"Just call me Sasuke." 

And he picks up the little grey cat and begins to make his way slowly out of the archives. He’s sure his team is very worried about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, if I wasn't so dedicated to the song lyrics as chapter titles thing I would have absolutely named this one, 'Sasuke Gets A Therapy Cat'. I've had a soft spot for him and cats for _ever_ and I think, like his dad*COUGH* I mean, Sensei, he deserves to have a fuzzy friend that he can just...cuddle when he needs to. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry again for any grammar or spelling errors. Lover is still unavailable so I am a one-man-army against the massive amount of words above and the strange things I sometimes decide to do to them. 
> 
> Next week we will have some more Sasuke and his summons as well as Sibling Banter tm. Can't _wait_ to see what you guys have to say about this chapter, it's one of my favorites to date. Sending hugs as always! <3<3<3


	20. Seek Absolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's in the eyes. I can tell, you will always be dangerous. We had it tonight, why do we always seek absolution?
> 
> \- Snake Eyes, Mumford & Sons
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029 (where would I be without you two...)

Sasuke waits until the Mountain Archives have been silent long enough that he's absolutely positive that his team is all asleep before sneaking out towards the training room.

Mika is curled around his shoulders, golden eyes blown wide and black in the near darkness of the caves as he creeps down the hall. Sasuke is glad that she's so quiet. He's really not looking to wake his team and get caught. 

It's not exactly that Sasuke is _hiding_ that he has summons now, but he may be avoiding the inevitable confrontation with Kakashi over it. 

His Sensei is absolutely understanding and kind in a way that you wouldn't guess by looking at him, but he's also meticulous and very careful and he expects the same from his students.

He's going to tear Sasuke _apart_ for signing a Summoning Pact on a whim.

So Sasuke is just...waiting for a good moment to bring it up. And in the meantime, he's going to start training with Mika, who seems to have assigned herself to him as her personal project. That way, when he _does_ finally get the nerve to tell Kakashi, he has something to show for his recklessness. 

Sasuke is so deep in thought about his plans to remain undiscovered that he fails to consider what it means that the lights are already on in their training room when he stealthily ducks through the door.

Sakura, crouched on the scroll covered floor with her pink hair pulled back in a severe ponytail, ink on her cheek and a guilty look in her wide jade eyes, stares at him.

He stares back, suddenly painfully aware of how bright the light is and how _obvious_ the cat resting on his shoulder is.

There are several beats of awkward silence.

It’s been three days since Sasuke’s panic attack after she beat him sparring and he may have apologized but things have still been… weird.

Finally, Sakura, in a slightly baffled sounding whisper asks, 

"Why do you have a cat?"

Sasuke, equally baffled but mostly just avoidant, responds, 

"How did you walk past my room without me hearing you?"

Sakura narrows her eyes at him.

"I asked you first."

The part of Sasuke that will always be a younger sibling rears its pugnacious head and he whisper-snarks back, "I asked you second." 

The two of them watch each other for a few beats longer, Mika glancing rapidly between the two of them like she's watching a particularly engaging game of toss. 

" _Fine_ ," Sakura hisses finally, rolling the sleeve up on her baggy sweater to reveal a seal painted against her wrist.

Sasuke thinks he may vaguely recognize it from their sealing unit at school but even without being certain he's able to piece the clues together well enough.

"A silencing seal?" He asks.

She nods and then asks pointedly, "the cat?" 

"Hn." Sasuke murmurs, unable to keep from shifting awkwardly as he tries to figure out how to explain in a way that won't have her shouting at him.

Mika doesn't give him the chance. She hops lightly down from his shoulders and pads over to Sakura, carefully stepping around her scrolls. She stops in front of the other teenager and extends one soft gray paw as if she’s waiting for a handshake. 

"Hello!" She mews in her sweet, chime like voice. 

Sakura’s mouth drops open. 

Mika, with the determination that Sasuke has come to know as one of her most defining characteristics, continues speaking. 

"I'm Mika of the Northern Mountains Nekomata, one of Sasuke-kun’s new summons. You are his teammate, the Fuinjutsu specialist, Sakura Haruno, correct?" 

Sakura's mouth hangs for a few beats longer before she summons the willpower to snap it shut.

She blinks, shakes her head, and then reaching to grip Mika's small paw manages "I am… pleased to meet you." 

Sakura looks back up at Sasuke, and he can't quite read the expression in her eyes.

The silence holds for several more beats before finally Sakura's mouth twists into a slight smirk and she says, 

"Kakashi Sensei is going to give you hell for this." 

Sasuke sighs, partly in relief that she isn't going to get pissed at him but also in agreement. 

"I know, it was reckless I just-"

"Psshh," she cuts him off, the spark of teasing is obvious on her face. "Recklessness aside, you picked cats. What's he going to _think_? What's Pakkun going to think?" 

Sasuke blinks in shock and then a slight smile slides across his face. 

“We are closer to Yokai than simple cats Sakura-san,” says Mika, gentle but still prim as she swishes her two tails pointedly into Sakura’s line of sight.

Sasuke has been corrected on this several times as well. It’s not that the Nekomata particularly mind being called cats, they just also seem very determined to maintain the distinction between their kind and your average, mouse-hunting tabby. 

Sasuke moves further into the room, peering at the scrolls piled in front of Sakura on the floor of the dojo. He doesn’t miss the strange look of panic and guilt that flashes across her face as he does so, but he also really doesn't understand it. 

What does she feel like she needs to hide?

“What are you working on?” he asks carefully, kneeling and offering a hand to Mika who bumps against him fondly. 

Sakura opens her mouth. Closes it. Her pale green eyes dart skittishly to the ink pots and brushes at her side. 

Right then, Sasuke thinks, what would Naruto do?

“Is it stuff for the eight trigrams?” 

He’s trying to prompt her and show her that he’s been paying attention to how hard she’s been working the past week. To be _supportive_ and all that shit. 

Instead the guilt in her gaze intensifies tenfold. 

“I know I should be working on it and I was until everyone went to bed! I’ve been making good progress and not slacking or anything and I _know_ you are super worried about Naruto and so am I so please don’t think-”

“Sakura!”

She jerks her head up, a slightly wild, fearful look about her. 

Sasuke runs a hand over his face and sighs. God they are such a mess. All of them are. Kakashi with his paranoid vigilance and Naruto with his deathbed optimism and him with his...well everything. But he forgets that Sakura is a mess too sometimes. 

A high functioning mess maybe but _damn_.

“I’m not judging okay?” Sasuke tries. “I genuinely want to know because you’re my teammate and I care... about your success.” 

He’s pretty sure he sounds constipated so he flicks his eyes to Mika to see how he’s doing. The little grey summons nods fiercely and then jerks her head several times in Sakura’s direction. 

“It’s fine that you aren’t working on the Eight Trigrams.” He really feels like he’s shooting in the dark here but she’s clearly hiding in the dojo working on whatever this is after she thought everyone was asleep for _some reason_ so… 

“We trust you and it’s...cool?” another glance at Mika who continues nodding “It’s cool that you have your own projects. I’d love to...hear about them? And maybe help if I can?” 

He winces. Really Naruto with his endless, perfect words would have been so much better at this. However, the panic and guilt has faded from Sakura’s eyes nearly entirely and has been replaced with one pink arched brow and a slightly crooked smile. 

“That was kind of painful to listen to honestly.” 

Mika sighs and then sweetly says, 

“We’ll work on it. Communication is an important aspect of team dynamics.”

If it had been anyone else Sasuke may have glared but even in the short few days he’s known her Mika has wormed her way into his heart so effectively that he cannot summon his usual vitriol, even after such a pointed critique of his… okay yes they are lacking communication skills. 

Sakura gives a short, snorting laugh and then quiets as she runs her hands over the scroll in front of her. It’s very, very old from what Sasuke can see. Its edges are browning and the dark blue ink scrawled across it is fading to near illegibility in certain places. Sakura has filled in those gaps with tiny, neatly scribbled notes and diagrams. Next to the yellowing scroll are her sketches from more than a month ago of some of the seals from the village. 

Sasuke really has no chance of recognizing which ones they are from form alone but he can make out the kanji labeling at least some of them as ‘Quay Seals’.

He has absolutely no idea how that could be of any value but…

Sakura considers her words for a few beats before she begins carefully, "Well I'm actually working on two different things at the moment." 

Sasuke and Mika both nod encouragingly. 

The pinkette taps on the old, browning scroll in front of her before continuing, her voice quietly fierce.

"I know we are all worried about Naruto and Kurama and the Eight Trigrams but I haven't forgotten about what Orochimaru did to you and I'm also not foolish enough to think that we've heard the last of him." 

The mention of the Snake Sanin has Sasuke's skin crawling with unease immediately. The now freed space on his neck where the curse mark had once crouched seems to burn for a moment. He rubs a hand across the spot and tries to ignore the way he feels, even now, as if slitted yellow eyes are peering at him like something to _dissect_.

Sakura doesn't miss his discomfort and neither does Mika. His summons leaps from where she had been sitting on the ground to Sasuke's shoulders with ease. Mika drapes herself around his neck, letting out a soft rumble as she bumps her nose gently against the bottom of his cheek. The vulnerable, crawling feeling at the back of his skull fades under the Nekomata's ministrations almost immediately and Sasuke breathes out long and slow, putting a conscious effort into relaxing.

Sakura watches the interaction thoughtfully but chooses to not say anything which, Sasuke appreciates instantly. He may be getting...better, but that doesn't means he wants his vulnerabilities pointed out. Instead she traces a thoughtful finger over the faded ink in front of her and explains, 

"Orochimaru is a hundred miles above us skills wise, according to what Kakashi Sensei has told us. If he decides to come after you again we're gonna be in a really dangerous spot so I'm working on a theory, I guess, about a way we could mitigate that threat." 

Sasuke blinks at her in surprise. He certainly hadn't forgotten about Orochimaru or the twisted genius’s obsession with him but he had assumed that compared to all the other things his team was dealing with it was pretty low on the priority list.

But… apparently Sakura doesn't think that.

"What's your idea?" Mika asks the pinkette. The little cat's voice is the most serious Sasuke has heard it sound to date. He hasn't actually told her about Orochimaru yet but apparently Mika is discerning enough to have realized that this is something important.

Sakura takes a few seconds longer to respond than she normally would, most likely still adjusting to the fact that the creature asking the question is a small grey cat yokai, but she shakes it off and begins to explain.

"I actually got the idea that afternoon a few weeks ago when I found the referencial text for the Seals placed on the shrine that Sasuke and I saw when we first arrived in Whirlpool." 

Sasuke nods, unsettled even now as he remembers the small dusty memorial tucked among the decades old devastation. 

"Basically, the seal functions to make... a vessel, I suppose is the best word for it, remember a soul." 

Sasuke and Mika blink slowly at the pinkette, both equally clueless as to what the young woman in front of them is talking about.

Sakura huffs out a slightly frustrated breath and says, "What I mean is, when the Seal is placed it designates an object as the place for the remnants of a soul to be stored. It binds pieces of who someone once was to a specific location."

Sasuke taps his fingers, and gives a slight hum of only slightly fabricated understanding and Mika asks "And it was on the shrine to hold memories of the deceased?" 

"Yes!" Sakura nods fervently.

"Basically family members or loved ones would bind a piece of the deceased person's memories to the shrine so that they could always return to that spot and feel their presence. The seal uses a diacritic imprint, not unlike what a Sealing Contract uses, based on blood and chakra to create a lasting impression in the seals recall and-" 

"Sakura, how does that help us with Orochimaru?" He doesn't mean the question to come across as sharp as it does but he also knows that Sakura can and _will_ ramble about sealing for ages if they let her and even with Mika around his shoulders he's still...tense. Now that the possibility has been laid before him he wants to know her plan against the Snake Sanin like _air_. 

"Right, sorry." Her eyes cast down and the flicker of worry returns.

Gods _dammit_ Sasuke is such a _dick_. 

"It's fine, I'm not mad just-"

"Please continue Sakura-kun. How does the Shrine Seal apply to this Orochimaru?" 

Sasuke's shoulders sag slightly in relief for his summons input. He cares about Sakura, would take a blade for her without a moment's hesitation, but he still doesn’t really know how to _talk to her_. 

Sakura smiles at Mika gratefully and slightly awkwardly before continuing.

"Basically, what I'm trying to do is stabilize the seal’s base matrices enough for it to be possible to place on a person instead of just an inanimate object."

Sasuke's mind is spinning, beginning to see where his teammate may be going with this but…

"Simplify." 

Mika flicks him in the face pointedly with one of her tails.

" _Please_ ," he adds immediately, hating that the petulance creeping into his voice isn't completely inaudible. 

Sakura narrows her eyes at him slightly, a flare of annoyance mixing with her uncertainty, but she pushes on. “To put it _simply_ , Orochimaru’s entire plan, his entire _life_ , exists on his ability to hop bodies. It’s why he wanted you.”

Sasuke nods and fights down the shiver of fear at the terrifying memory of the pale faced, mad eyed ninja looking at him like one would a particularly lovely _coat_. 

“So I’m going to lock the bastard's soul in his current body. I’m going to bind it to his form so completely that he can never shed his skin again.”

He’s staring and his tongue feels leaden in his mouth. Sasuke doesn’t know what he can possibly say that is an adequate response to finding out his teammate, the girl who once treated him like a trophy to be won, is inventing a way to destroy an immortal just because the man hurt him. 

“I…” he starts.

“It’s not finished yet.” She talks over him, a flash of self doubt on her face again like she’s afraid he won't _believe her_ or something. “I still have so much to figure out in the original Memoriam Seal before I’m at a place where I can even begin reworking it to be viable on a living form but the theory is solid I think and-”

Sasuke grabs her face and, yanking her forward, presses his forehead against hers. 

“Shut up, you damn chatterbox,” he says and Sakura does, either stunned by the gesture of fondness or the affection that is overflowing from his voice. Maybe both.

It's not like they haven't been close until this moment. Sakura is his teammate and he knows that none of them would be here without her but even still Sasuke has always been a bit wary of her, a bit distant. Sakura seemed to approach him with the same hesitancy. There is an unavoidable _snag_ that exists in their relationship, a history that neither of them knows how to talk about or apologize for. So instead they've both taken to pretending like the discomfort isn't there at all and instead let Naruto's loud brash love roll over any awkwardness between them.

But now...

"Thank you… so much. For doing this." Sasuke whispers into the delicate space between them and the smile that curls across his pink haired teammates face in response is soft and wonder filled and completely honest. 

Honesty is not something that either of them is good at. Sasuke hides his fears and his weaknesses instinctually and Sakura wears a different face for every person she encounters, switching them out like carnival masks. They are both liars and trust doesn't come easy to them. 

Vulnerability only gets you tossed aside by those you love, after all.

But now, in this space, with the silence of the Uzushio archive surrounding them and the smell of ink and of the evening's dinner and the echoes of Sakura's promise still hanging heavy in the air, maybe they can be something more. 

"Of course," Sakura finally manages, voice nearly cracking on the words, "I promised you that first night didn't I? I'm going to protect you. Naruto and Sensei too." 

Sasuke sits back and he can feel the helpless smile on his own face reflecting back at her because he believes it. 

"A promise for a promise then," the swelling feeling in his heart prompts him to say, "you keep us safe and I swear to heal us when you can't."

She nods fiercely and the brightness in her eyes is one part unshed tears and one part joy. The fist she extends to him has only been a symbol for a few months now but the weight it carries is stark. 

"It's an oath." 

He bumps her fist with his own, and it's one of those moments that feels important and precious and Sasuke is suddenly so blindingly glad that he is alive here in this place, surrounded by these people.

Sakura drops her hand. Her smile, still almost giddy, turns a little mischievous. She teases "You know for a second when you grabbed my face like that I really thought you were going to try and kiss me."

Sasuke utterly fails to keep the instant grimace off his face at the idea and Sakura barks out a laugh in response and then presses a hand to her chest, making a cartoonishly affronted face at him.

"Sasuke! I'm so _hurt_!"

"Would you stop! You don't want to kiss me either!" He hisses back at her and his face is so damn red. Why are they talking about _kissing_?! 

Leaning back on her hands Sakura tilts her head thoughtfully and then says, 

"Honestly, I really don't!" 

"Thank _god_." 

Her smile turns dangerously mischievous again and really, Sasuke is beginning to think she is spending far too much time talking to Kurama. 

"Besides, we all know who you _really_ want to kiss-"

"YOU SAID YOU WERE WORKING ON ANOTHER PROJECT TOO?" 

He may be yelling but honestly, at this point he would take Kakashi's wrath over so much as a _moment_ more of this conversation.

Sakura laughs again, free and unapologetic and Sasuke really, truly, loves her. Her amusement finally receding, Sakura looks quietly down at the seals in front of her.

"I am working on another project but it's for me and so I'm not sure…"

The hesitation is back and Sasuke rolls his eyes, and then stands and moves to sit next to her.

"Show me," he commands and Sakura blinks away the surprise on her face and then nods. 

"Fair warning, it's a little...crazy."

"Crazier than contracting with summons on a whim?" Sasuke asks, lifting a hand to scratch Mika under the chin.

A pause and then Sakura concedes, "well when you put it that way…"

And so she shows him, and it _is_ crazy, and it's going to make her _untouchable_.

Sasuke can't wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the Sakura and Sasuke as fussy siblings trope has been done a million times in fic but I am a _sucker_ for it so… bickering time. 
> 
> There is a _tiny_ bit of muddling with who knows what in canon here but let’s all assume that Kakashi learned about how dangerous Orochimaru is from his time as Hound and that Sasuke is good enough at reading between the lines to figure out about the Snake Sanin’s intentions for him. 
> 
> Lover is finally free from the grips of finals, thank _God_ , so there should be much less bullshit with where commas are located and what words get capitalized moving forward. 
> 
> Next week you can expect a _monster_ of a chapter in which we start to see some of our wayward renegades coming together. I’m sure it’ll go super smoothly and everyone will get along _just fine_. >;3c 
> 
> Anticipating your comments as always! I hope you all _never_ underestimate the amount of joy and motivation they give me. <3 Lots of love!


	21. Stop Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you're running, stop running. One life, one chance, start living. Sing it louder just to let the world know, "No we're not nameless, we're not faceless. We are born for greatness."
> 
> \- Born for Greatness, Papa Roach 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

He’s on the way back from doing the week’s shopping in Gyoson with Naruto and Sakura when Kakashi feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand in silent alarm. 

The silver-haired Jonin doesn’t let himself stiffen or change the relaxed pace that he and the pups are traveling at. He doesn’t reach for a weapon, doesn’t even turn his head to look at their surroundings more closely. He’s wearing his mask at the moment but even if he wasn’t not so much as a hint of trepidation would show on his face. 

Despite his apparent calm however, Kakashi is crouched on a knife's edge of readiness. His thoughts have switched tracks completely to that perfect, neat, unflinching place that was born over years of bloodshed and violence. Hound’s thoughts. 

Ahead of him, his kids are bickering, unaware of the danger he can sense. Sakura swipes in annoyance at Naruto and the blonde dances sideways nimbly to avoid the blow with a cackle. Kakashi uses the momentary distraction to sweep his eyes across the broken down and silent streets of Uzusio. He listens closely and scents the air. 

The only figures he can see are their own and the only footsteps he can hear theirs as well. 

But he doesn't have to see or hear, to know that somewhere, very nearby, is a threat. Kakashi believes in few things, but his instincts are one and his nose is another. 

So when his adrenaline kicks into overdrive and he catches the faintest, barely-there scent of sweat and, strangely, sand on the breeze, he doesn’t take so much as a moment to doubt himself. 

He won’t waste time like that, not with his life possibly on the line and more importantly not with Sakura and Naruto’s.

Kakashi slows his steps fractionally, just enough to put a little bit of space between his chatting kids and himself and he waits. 

He has to stay nearby Naruto and Sakura and so whoever is stalking them is going to get the first move, get to strike at them first. 

Kakashi is ready though. 

As they continue up the street toward the archive they pass a narrow alleyway between two empty buildings. 

The shape moves at the corner of Kakashi's eye, less than a shifting shadow tucked into the mouth of the alley, but it's more than enough to register as a threat for the Jonin.

Kakashi flips a Kunai from his belt into his hand and whips it towards the ninja that was moving silently up on him through the shadows.

He sinks chakra into the weapon as it leaves his fingertips, the flash of lightning taking the already dangerous blade to a new level of threat. Fast and deadly. His specialty.

Apparently his adversary is somehow even faster.

The ninja, who he can now see is a woman wearing worn traveling clothes, twists and slips under the blade, faster than Kakashi has seen anyone move since maybe Genma. Her long, blonde braid whips behind her and a snarling curse leaves her lips. 

Kakashi doesn't slow, doesn't take time to question how she found them or her intentions. No one sneaks up on a shinobi with kindness in their heart, after all. 

"Sakura!" He snarls as he lunges toward the Kunoichi, who is still gaining her feet.

He doesn't need to say more. His discerning student, having turned as soon as Kakashi threw the Kunai, has already wrapped an arm around Naruto’s waist and is beginning to yank the shocked blonde backwards and away. 

"Sensei wait!" The Jinchuriki yells, fear audible in his voice, but Kakashi _can't wait_ , because the woman is raising glowing golden eyes to him and she isn't making hand signs but there is still a ripple of furious energy racing across her skin. 

Kakashi knows better than to wait and find out what kekkei genkai she's about to unleash. He doesn't let her finish whatever she was going to try, launching into a rapid series of kicks and punches designed to incapacitate. 

He's taken down S-rank nins before with the attacks he's using right now, but for all his efforts the petite Kunoichi before him might as well be made of smoke. She twists and ducks, not striking back yet for some reason but redirecting his hits to the sides. 

Kakashi adjusts his strategy. He snaps a kick into her face, giving his hands a moment of freedom and flashes through hand signs faster than a normal eye can follow while she ducks. 

Lightning crackles around his arms, across his shoulders, down to his hands. It’s not a chidori. This jutsu is much less concentrated and much more subtle, but it’s more than enough to take this woman out if he can just... 

Kakashi whips another right hook at her and she steps back again, his fist passing a bare inch from her cheek. 

It’s still close enough. 

The lightning swarming across the surface of Kakashi's skin leaps between them and the blonde kunoichi arches with a scream of pain. 

Things get... very confusing then. 

The kunoichi falls back several steps, eyes a bit glazed and blood trickling from her nose as the lightning jitters across her skin. Kakashi can’t take time to wonder at how she's still standing after that. Most shinobi would be jerking on the ground with that much electricity forced into their muscles. So he adapts. Even if she’s not on the ground, he can still put her six feet under. 

Kakashi is about to lunge when suddenly a scream rips through the cold evening air. 

“Yugito!” The voice is _young_ and _afraid_ and Kakashi finds himself pausing, and then his entire field of vision is blocked by a rushing, towering wall of sand.

He’s barely registered the second threat, when something grabs the back of his flak jacket and unceremoniously yanks him several feet backward. The sand slams into the street where he stood a millisecond before with enough force that the ground vibrates underfoot. 

That would _not_ have felt good, Kakashi thinks distantly, even as he stares in shock at the blonde head of hair directly in front of him. 

Naruto is braced between him and the Kunoichi, the Kyuubi's chakra swimming around him like a second skin and three tails swirling in the air with agitation.

"Shukaku! Matatabi! Enough!" 

It's Kurama's voice, commanding and absolute, but Kakashi doesn't recognize the names he calls.

He does, however, recognize the young man who is now visible as he steps from between the shadow of two buildings behind the enemy Kunoichi, hands extended and sand swirling ominously from the gourd on his back. 

Gaara of the Sand, also known as the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi glares at Kakashi with two impossibly pale green eyes as he steps up next to the blonde woman. She in turn leans on him, teeth gritted as she weathers the effects of Kakashi’s Lighting Aura jutsu.

There are several long moments of silence as the five ninja watch each other warily. 

The blonde woman breaks the tension first, her voice is still slightly rough from being electrocuted, but confident and unapologetic.

"Matatabi, Shukaku, either of you could have mentioned that the 'Wolf' we were looking for was fucking Sharigan no Kakashi." She pops her neck, a grimace painted across her sharp featured face. 

When she raises dark eyes to meet his two toned ones, Kakashi finally recognizes her. 

"Yugito Nii." He doesn't manage to keep the shock out of his voice because holy fuck he just tried to punch a Jinchuriki in the face. 

Specifically, he tried to punch one of the most notorious Jinchuriki ever, one of Clouds most deadly, a woman with flee on sight orders in nearly every elemental nation.

He's never met her in person but Kakashi still knows his equal when he meets them. 

The Cloud Jonin raises a challenging eyebrow at him.

"Hello, Hatake." 

"Yo." Kakashi flashes a sardonic two finger salute at her over Naruto's head then says, "I guess it's not a coincidence that two Jinchuriki happened to stumble on us here, hundreds of miles from either of their villages." 

The two missing nin - because Kakashi has absolutely not missed what it means that a Jinchuriki from Sand and from Cloud respectively are _here_ together, sneaking up on him and his team specifically - do not deny it.

Kurama speaks again. Kakashi can hear the lack of surprise in his voice and he doesn't know how the Fox knew the other two would be coming, but somehow he did.

"Glad to see you made it in one piece."

Yugito Nii snorts and her eyes light up with a golden glow, the voice that emerges from her mouth is much deeper, more rumbling than the one she had spoken with only moments before.

Ah, this must be the Nibi, thinks Kakashi, suddenly feeling a little like a very small rodent standing among three very large, sharp toothed predators.

"It was a struggle a couple of times," the Two-tails imparts. "The kitten here is running on barely enough sleep to keep her standing and Shukaku's kit isn't much better off."

Kurama inclines his head generously and then says, "I'm sure Wolf and his pups could be convinced to take you to their little hideout for a chance to recuperate." 

Kakashi feels like he should probably cut in at this point.

"I'm not so sure about that. Just because you two are Jinchuriki too doesn't mean you're on our… side." 

Kakashi hadn't even realized that him and his kids had a _side_ until now but he doesn't know how else to diplomatically say "I don't know if you plan to tear our heads off with your bare hands or not."

Yugito laughs at him. Kakashi narrows his eyes and thinks as he once did months ago, chakra drained and near delirious on the floor of the Hatake compound, that people who know who he is and still have the gall to laugh in his face are either confident in their strength or unapologetic in their madness. 

He thinks that Yugito Nii may be a fair bit of both of those things.

Nii spreads her hands out wide and gestures around them. She's still trembling slightly with the effects of his electrocution and her clothing is torn and stained and crusted with road dust. Her blonde hair is sweaty and knotted. Gaara, glued to her side and still glaring at Kakashi, looks no better, almost more sand and exhaustion than boy at this point. 

But both their eyes are sharp, and dangerous, and nearly ferally desperate, and Kakashi's gut says not to relax or underestimate the threat they could pose.

They are Jinchuriki after all.

"Hatake who else's side could we _possibly_ be on?" Yugito demands, and she sounds strong despite her weariness, threatening despite her clear need.

"The kid and me," she gestures to Gaara, "are hundreds of miles away from our Villages and thousands of choices beyond having any other options. So yes we're on your _fucking side_ , but only cause that's the side that gets us a hot shower and a place to sleep."

Kakashi narrows his eyes at her. That's less than comforting because desperation doesn't equal trust and-

"Yugito-ane." That's Gaara, voice quiet and of all things reproachful. 

Kakashi would take more time to be surprised at the familial honorific but the young Jinchuriki is turning to him with a fierceness to his gaze that makes him look older than his twelve years should afford. It's still not friendly and Kakashi is beginning to think that hurting Yugito in front of the boy was _not_ his smartest move.

"She's right that we don't have any other options but…," the boy pauses, considering, "we aren't just here out of desperation. Both of us…," he glances towards Yugito who is about as friendly looking as a Kunai to the throat but still inclines her head in approval of whatever Gaara is about to say, "both of us are also here because we want to be a part of what you're building in Uzushio. Naruto wrote to me before you all left Konoha to tell me you'd be here and-"

Naruto **what** , thinks Kakahsi but Gaara pushes on, not seeming to realize this is new information.

"-we both want a home that doesn't fear us and doesn't treat us like monsters. We are sorry we startled you, we were just trying to survey what we were dealing with before revealing ourselves." 

Pale blue eyes start to fill with tears and, voice slightly choked, the Jinchuriki of the one tails bends at the waist in a bow. 

"Please Hatake-san, Naruto, Sakura-chan, let us come with you. We both just want a place we can rest." 

Kakashi turns to stare at Naruto. 

Kurama smiles back meanly.

"I'd like to talk to my student about the fact that he apparently informed a foreign ninja our secret plans without deeming it necessary to let me know about it." 

Kurama's grin sharpens.

"Naruto's not home at the moment, would you like to leave a message?" 

"Kurama…" Kakashi snarls.

"Not that this isn't super weird to listen to but I've been on the run for more or less two months now and the kid here hasn't had a full night's sleep since he was more or less born, so either let us go with you or…"

Kakashi considers, weighing his options

Yugito is still looking at him like she’s trying to decide the fastest route to sinking her claws into his throat and last he checked Gaara was _insane_. 

Kakashi sincerely contemplates grabbing his kids and sprinting for it because he doesn't trust either of the Jinchuriki in front of them but…

He meets Yugito's eyes. She's glaring at him and she's transitioned from leaning on Gaara to having one arm wrapped around his shoulder. It's strange because Kakashi is positive that he remembers Yugito's Bingo Book entry describing her as ruthless, cold, and uncompromising and while he does see those characteristics in her dangerous gaze and the cruel twist to her lips... 

Kakashi blinks and notices for the first time that her shirt is only thin, torn Ninja blacks, not something someone would wear without a covering. Kakashi glances towards Gaara and further notices that what he thought at first was a misshapen, black tunic draped on his frail shoulders, is actually a Kunoichi's silk armor shirt, a bit too large on the small boy. 

But it's probably warmer than whatever the desert dweller had on before and the winter air of Uzushio is bitingly cold…

Kakashi looks to Yugito again. There is still a faint tremble to the woman's limbs but now Kakashi wonders if it's from the effects of the lightning Jutsu alone.

The other Jonin’s dark eyes lock with his, and for a moment it's almost like Kakashi is looking in a mirror. 

Yugito Nii is 26 years old. She has been fighting for the vast majority of her life, and has hundreds of kills to her name, a reputation that is more horror story than legend and no real ties, familial or otherwise. She's a blood stained, sharp edged, weapon of a woman and yet somehow she's still ended up here, in Uzushio, with her arms wrapped protectively around a child she realistically should have nothing to do with.

Kakashi feels a blooming, damning kinship as he studies the other Shinobi.

Damn it, when did he, of all people, become _soft_?

But then again, when did she?

Sakura has drifted to his side from where she'd been watching their guests consideringly.

"Sensei?" She asks quietly and there is a whole series of questions that Kakashi hears in the single word. He glances down at her and her steady jade eyes meet his. He would never call her cold, but Kakashi knows that if he decided to abandon Yugito Nii and Gaara of the Sand here to their exhaustion and the cold ocean air she would follow his lead without hesitation or remorse. She'll do what needs to be done to keep their team, their _family_ , safe. 

On the other hand, Naruto couldn’t abandon someone in need for anything and Kakashi makes the mistake of forgetting that just long enough for the boy in question to make the choice of what to do about the other ninja for him. 

The blonde has slipped back into control sometime in the last several moments and he quickly glances back nervously at Kakashi, likely to check if he is still about to be reprimanded for the whole "letter to Gaara" business. Seeing that Kakashi has apparently deemed to wait and rebuke him later, the Jinchuriki sidles up to Gaara with a rapidly blooming smile.

Yugito tenses as he gets close to them and Kakashi would absolutely be amused by the motherly instincts from the deadly and hardened Kunoichi if not for the same paternal worry rearing its head in his chest.

"Naruto…" he starts to say, ready to order him back to safety at his side but the boy simply speaks over him.

Somewhere Minato is probably laughing at Kakashi and the karma that is coming around to bite him for his own youthful, headstrong disregard of his superiors orders.

"Hi Gaara!" Chirps Naruto with his signature, melt-even-the-coldest-ice smile.

Gaara blinks at him in utter shell-shocked exhaustion.

Naruto must take that as _some kind_ of agreement to continue the conversation because he scoots even closer to the other Jinchuriki. 

"I'm really glad you came! And you brought another Jinchuriki too! That's amazing!"

Gaara, continuing to blink like he's a raccoon being forced to look directly into the sun, finally manages to speak. 

"I really didn't do-"

Yugito leans into Naruto's space with a glare and Kakashi has to suppress every single instinct in his body that is screaming for him to grab Naruto's collar and yank him to safety.

"Would you back off Nine Tailed brat?" The Kumo Kunoichi demands gratingly "Can't you see he's fucking tired? And you're loud." 

Sakura stiffens in indignation besides him and Kakashi (god he feels like a civilian mom in a playground spat what the everloving-) takes a threatening step forward, ready to defend his student.

Naruto laughs, raising his hands in apology and directing his smile at the very dangerous woman glaring at him. 

“Hi! You’re Yugito right? I’m happy you made it here! Your tailed beast is Matatabi, the Nibi?”

Yugito’s black eyes narrow further and she answers only in a sharp nod. 

Naruto, unperturbed, sticks one of his hands out, smile never faltering. 

Yugito’s narrowed eyes drop to the offered hand to study it suspiciously. 

Naruto just waits patiently.

After several tense moments the Nibi Jinchuriki reaches out and gives Naruto’s hand one perfunctory shake. The hostility hasn’t left her form, but Kakashi is good enough at reading people to see the curiosity that has bled into her expression alongside the wariness and exhaustion. 

Naruto turns part way back to Sakura and Kakashi, tucking his hands in his pocket as he does. 

“Let’s head back to the archives then! We’ll get Gaara and Yugito set up in some of the spare rooms and then maybe me and Sasuke can make a hot pot or something for dinner!”

“Naruto…” Sakura starts to say and she’s still looking at the two foriegn Jinchuriki with all the distrust that Kakashi feels but with only half of the practice at hiding it. Naruto cuts her off before she can finish. His grin hasn’t faltered but there is a weight to his eyes as they meet hers, a question. 

Perhaps it’s the same unspoken question that Sakura asked him only a week and a half ago when they first found Mito’s journals. 

“Ne, Sakura? Trust me?”

The pinkette stares at him for several long beats and then gives a nod. 

Naruto's smile softens for a moment, like the difference between the sun at high noon and dawn, no less warm but...more gentle. The moment passes and Naruto returns his attention to his fellow Jinchuriki.

"Are you guys ready to go?" He asks brightly.

The two travel worn ninja glance at each other. No words are exchanged but some kind of quick conversation seems to transpire between them nonetheless. Yugito furrows her brows and the scowl that seems a permanent fixture on her face deepens for a moment. Her eyes flick once pointedly in Kakashi's direction. Gaara, in turn, blinks woefully up at her and his small pale hand tightens on her sleeve.

Clearly, despite their need, there is still some hesitance to be had.

"We do have some pretty nice bath salts that a woman in the town near here makes…" Naruto says offhandedly, almost as if it's an afterthought, "If the hot water is workin' today I bet we could run a bath…"

Kakashi nearly rolls his eyes at the tactic. As if a ninja as battle hardened as Yugito would be swayed by menial comforts, he thinks.

But the ashen haired Kunoichi proves him wrong, straightening from where she's been leaning against Gaara. 

"What kind of bath salts?" She asks shortly.

Naruto blinks innocently at her.

"Lavender scented."

"I think Granny Ichika uses sea salt and herbs from her own garden..." Sakura adds, stepping to stand alongside her teammate.

Yugito sniffs, attempting to appear disinterested but Kakashi watches as almost subconsciously the woman raises a hand to rub the red, dehydration-cracked skin on one of her bare forearms.

Gaara notices the gesture too and after a moment in which Yugito doesn't say anything he turns and responds in that strange, measured voice "I think a bath and some rooms would be…very appreciated." 

"Great!" and Naruto turns and without further discussion begins marching towards the entrance of the Mountain Archive. Sakura falls into step behind Naruto, a close-lipped smile tight on her face, eyes still glancing back at the strange nin with distrust. 

But she still follows Naruto.

Kakashi watches his two students' backs. He opens his mouth, closes it, and wonders when it was that he stopped being the one in charge. He turns back to Yugito who he quickly realizes seems to be having a similar struggle with her… student.

Tugging on her hand, Gaara begins walking after Naruto and Sakura. His attempts to pull Yugito along with him are determined and seem to be unfaltering even as the Kunoichi widens her stance and braces her feet against his forward momentum.

The Nibi Jinchuriki is still glaring but now the glare seems more frustration and bafflement than hostility.

"Gaara would you fucking _wait_ a second," she hisses, planting her feet even as the redhead continues to tug against her hands.

"No." Gaara is _pouting_ , Kakashi realizes, and the memory of the blood thirsty boy who nearly crippled Lee more than two months ago is so contradictory to the boy in front of him now that the former Konoha nin feels a headache developing.

"I'm tired and _you're_ tired and Naruto said we can rest with them," Gaara informs Yugito mulishly. 

Yugito's eyes flash towards where Kakashi is watching the whole exchange. Kakashi tips a single shoulder in a shrug and offers her the barest twist of a sympathetic smile.

"After you?" He asks, gesturing after his students.

Yugito's glare sharpens and she doesn't budge from where Gaara is still tugging at her arms.

Ah yes, Kakashi thinks, understanding her hesitance as only someone with equal paranoia could, I suppose in her shoes I wouldn't want an unfamiliar nin at my back either. 

He clears his throat and trying again, sends an eye -smile her way.

"Oops. I meant, follow me?"

It's as close to an olive branch as he can offer at the moment. 

But it seems to be enough as Yugito, still tracking his every movement carefully, suspiciously, finally gives a slow nod and then allows Gaara to pull her several steps forward.

Kakashi takes off walking calmly after his students. 

The wary, twice shy, hair trigger part of Kakashi bears its teeth at letting someone as dangerous as Yugito Nii walk at his unprotected back. Hound doesn't look too kindly on trust as a general concept. However another voice, one that's dangerously close to kind and growing louder every day he lives in the Mountain Archives whispers of the way that Yugito's shirt looked against the pale of Gaara's skin and how her wind bitten arm still wrapped securely around his shoulders even though the contact must have hurt her cracked skin.

Hound was a weapon of the Leaf. A perfect, faceless, soldier. 

Hound didn’t have anything left to lose. 

But Kakashi, Wolf….. 

He watches Naruto and Sakura bickering like pups again, the falling winter sun catching on their bright hair like fire and their shadows long and dark on the cobblestones before them. 

Kakashi has a lot to lose, and so does Yugito Nii, apparently. 

So he walks slowly, confidently, and even though his awareness stays on a razor's edge and his adrenaline pumps through his veins in preparation for a kunai aimed at the back of his neck, he doesn't look back once as they lead Yugito and Gaara toward Team 7's new home. 

~

Yugito has had a very stressful couple of months. 

She's had a stressful life in general but nothing she's overcome before can beat the harrowing voyage that Matatabi's little _favor_ has turned out to be.

Feeling Gaara's sand roughened fingers adjust in hers, Yugito knows that she isn't complaining and she wouldn't change what she's done for anything, but she's weary down to the very marrow of her bones.

Between escaping Kumo, traversing nearly the entirety of the elemental nations, breaking past Suna's defenses and absconding with Gaara and then making their way through the kicked ant hill that was the Land of Fire to finally arrive at Uzushio where she nearly had her head taken off by gods damned Sharingan no Kakashi…well she really doesn't know how she's still on her feet at all.

At least part of the answer to that is leaning against her side as they walk, wide eyes staring in quiet awe at the destruction that surrounds them. Yugito still doesn't understand how Gaara is even…possible.

From what the quiet boy has told her over the past month, Yugito would find it completely understandable if he was a mindless killing machine. 

When Yugito had finally found Gaara, a month and 3 days after she escaped from Cloud, she had leapt silently through the boy's window and upon seeing her, Gaara, who had been sitting awake on the small bed in his room had immediately burst into tears. At first Yugito had been positive it was because the small redheaded boy was afraid of her. She was a fearsome sight after all, with moonlight on her shoulders and the blood of the guard who tried to stop hers on her claws.

But Gaara had quickly proven her wrong, when he had stumbled off the bed and thrown himself against her, thin pale arms coming to wrap around her waist. 

Yugito had frozen in rigid shock. She couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged her. 

It turned out that Gaara was so overjoyed to see her because she was the first person he had had contact with in nearly a month.

Apparently the council that had been ruling Suna until a Kazekage could be appointed had voted to place the young Jinchuriki on house arrest to "mitigate the threat to his safety" after events at the Konoha Chuunin exams. He had been forbidden from walking freely in the village or even leaving the wing of the former Kazekage residence that he called home. No one had visited him either. 

And the villages called _them_ monsters. 

The two Jinchuriki had left nearly immediately, taking no more than a few moments for Gaara to grab a pack with some ryo and rations.

Yugito is glad that she hadn't had time to hear the whole story of Gaara's upbringing while they were still in Suna. She had only just met the young Jinchuriki but she still may not have been able to leave without tearing out some throats with her _teeth_ if she had and it turned out that she needed every single ounce of willpower and strength she had to make sure she and Gaara got to where they are now.

If the journey from Kumo to Suna was hard, the one from Suna to Uzushio nearly killed her. 

Between avoiding the hunting parties of three different elemental nations, keeping herself and the twelve year old suddenly under her care from dying of exposure in the rapidly descending Fire county winter, and learning how to actually speak to said twelve year old without being a complete bitch... well, there is a reason Kakashi Hatake nearly took her out so easily.

They made it though. Both of them.

Uzushio is pretty much exactly what she expected, cold and silent and depressing. 

The "Wolf" that Matatabi had told them they were meeting, on the other hand, is not what she was expecting at _all_.

Hatake Kakashi is a legend. He's the kind of ninja that Jonin tell horror stories about to keep their subordinates in line. Blood soaked and ruthless and spoken of in the same whispers as death itself. 

He's the kind of man that Yugito would have been prepared to meet on a battlefield, maybe even one whose hands she'd once have been prepared to die by. He is certainly not one she'd been prepared to meet here, with his back turned vulnerably towards her as he leads them uphill through Uzushio's desolate streets. 

Hatake, Wolf as the Bijuu call him, _is_ here though. According to what she's been told by Matatabi and by extension Kurama, the fearsome copy-nin, one of Konoha's most powerful tools, defected from the village with his Genin team. 

Yugito knows she can't point fingers because she did the same for Gaara but it's different. Yugito is a Jinchuriki too, she has _stakes_ in this. Hatake may be a monster in his own rights but it's not because he is a vessel to a tailed beast.

Could it be that Hatake had actually broken his loyalty because of affection for the children he now guards?

Two months ago Yugito would have called such an idea madness but as she glances at Gaara at her side and then back at the blonde and pink haired kids walking in front of Wolf, she thinks that maybe she understands. 

The Konoha nin lead Gaara and her into the upper-most ruins of Uzushio until they dead end into what appears to be a sculpture carved into the mountain cliff face. 

Yugito looks around suspiciously. 

She doesn't see any buildings here that are intact enough to house them from the frigid ocean wind let alone could contain functioning pipes and electricity. Maybe they have an illusion in place to keep their base from prying eyes or _maybe_ Hatake is leading her and Gaara into a trap and she's just _walking into it-_

Her fearful, _justified_ , thoughts are interrupted as Naruto, the nine-tail Jinchuriki, slices one of his fingers with his pointed incisors and then reaching upwards, swipes the welling blood across the center of the spiraling carving.

Yugito watches in shock as a door appears in the mountain wall, the tunnel within is lit by dim but warm lights. 

Naruto grins widely at the surprise that must be written all over her and Gaara's faces. The pink haired girl next to him smirks too, significantly less friendly than her teammate and even Hatake sends another one of those strange, curving eye-smiles their way. 

"Welcome to the archives!" Naruto announces with a bright smile "Let's get out of the cold."

He turns and begins making his way into the tunnel, the pinkette, Sakura at his heels like a guard dog.

Kakashi stays posted at the entrance, his hands in his pockets and that damned smile still on his face.

He gestures Gaara and her after his students with a sweep of his hand.

Yugito stiffens instantly. She will _not have_ this deadly, unapologetically ruthless man at her and Gaara's back. She'll take her chances with the frigid air and Kumo's hunting parties and- 

"Yugito?" Gaara's soft voice comes.

His eyes when they meet hers are pleading and rimmed with exhausted dark circles. 

Hatake's rough voice cuts in before she can try to explain to Gaara that they cannot trust the Konoha nin, that the copy-nin probably kills as easily as he breathes and their blood on his hands wouldn't even make him flinch... that Yugito cannot hold her own against him right now.

"Nii, I'm not your enemy. You're going to have to extend some trust to me if this is going to work."

Yugito is about to snarl back that Hatake of all people should know that for a ninja trust is just a longer and more complicated road to suicide but Gaara tugs at her hand again.

"Yugito-ane _please_. It's going to be fine and you have to _rest_." 

The Cloud Jonin closes her eyes and breathes long and slow. She reminds herself that they don't have any other options.

"You know," Matatabi's considerate hum offers in her consciousness, "Kurama seems willing to speak for him and he likes most humans even less than I do. That's got to mean something." 

Yugito cannot deny that it is a point in Hatake's favor. 

She makes her choice and, meeting the other Jonin's eyes, explains in the steadiest, calmest voice she can summon at the moment, "If you lay a single hand on Gaara or me I'll claw that infamous Sharingan eye out of your skull."

Kakashi smiles again. It's a friendly expression, all things considered, but for a moment killing intent rushes through the space between them. Yugito snarls instinctually and her grip tightens so fiercely on Gaara's hand that the boy flinches and his sand whirls to life in distress. 

"Understood!" The white haired man responds cheerfully, "and if you so much as look wrong at my kids or make me think for an instant that you're going to sell us out, I'll show you that Jinchuriki or not, you are not the most dangerous monster here."

Jinchuriki and Copy-nin stare at each other for several long beats. 

Wolf and Wildcat, Yugito thinks with quietly hysterical amusement. 

"Fine," She grates out, fighting every instinct in her that demands she launches herself at Hatake _now_. 

"Instinct is a funny word for trying to get yourself killed," Matatabi murmurs, and the damned cat says it like a joke but Yugito has grown to know her well enough these past couple months that she still hears the reprimand, the concern, for what it is.

Yugito doesn't dignify the cutting comment with a response, only turns away from Kakashi and, still tightly gripping Gaara's hand, steps into the Mountain archive. 

After only about fifty paces down the warmly lit tunnel she and Gaara step into a large cavern. The walls are rough hewn grey stone and are cluttered with mismatched shelves and a few hanging lanterns. There are 4 different arched doorways leading off deeper into the mountain and the floor is carpeted with a huge woven rug. In the center of the room are several old but cluttered couches, draped in bright mismatched pillows that escape onto the floor and more blankets than Yugito can count at first glance.

On one of the couches, nearly stacked on top of each other as if there were no other places to sit is the nine tailed brat, the inhospitable pinkette, and a dark haired boy that must be the Sasuke that was mentioned earlier.

Sasuke narrows his eyes at her as they step into the room, gaze flicking between her and Gaara with more distrust than either Kakashi _or_ Sakura have shown yet. Yugito is about to open her mouth and snap at him to watch who he's glaring at when what she thought was a particularly fluffy grey blanket draped over his shoulders lifts its head.

The small grey cat that is revealed whispers frantically and loudly enough for Yugito to hear with her sharp ears, "oh my sage, Naruto, Sakura why didn't you tell me _Matatabi-sama_ was the one you were bringing here?"

What? Yugito thinks, watching in surprise as two tails flip animatedly on the black haired boys shoulder. 

"What?" Hisses the boy in question, clearly as out of the loop as she is.

The little cat, ignoring both their confusion leaps elegantly down from Sasuke's shoulders and trots over to where Gaara and her still stand in the doorway. 

The creature bows low in front of them, grey tails swishing side to side behind her in nervous excitement.

"Matatabi-sama, I do not know if you can speak as Kurama-san does but on behalf of the Northern Mountain Nekomata, I am honored by your presence." 

Yugito opens her mouth, prepared to explain as nicely as possible that she doesn't know what the fuck _any_ of that means but the Nibi's voice emerges from her instead.

"Hello little one," the two tails purrs, "this is a delightful surprise! I haven't had a chance to speak with our people in many decades!" 

"So I've been told by my elders. My name is Mika, my lady. I have only been contracted with Sasuke-kun for a few days but on behalf of him and his clan, you and yours are safe among these walls."

"Mika would you wait a damn second-" Sasuke snarls, rising halfway off the couch only for Naruto to grab him by the back of the shirt and yank him back into the cushions.

"She's right. Yugito, Gaara, Matatabi, Shukaku, you all are welcome here." 

Sasuke is turning to him with a glare and Sakura's face is twisting again like she's struggling to bury a frown but Naruto continues over their clear discontent.

"I know that my team doesn't trust you yet and you don't trust us. We've all really been through some shit so that totally makes sense. We'll make it work though! You guys should get some rest and we can talk more when you wake up!" 

He smiles brightly at Yugito and honestly she has no idea what to say to this weird kid. 

Thanks? Your optimism is gonna get you killed? Tell your friends to fix their faces before I rearrange their features?

Hatake takes the choice from her, moving in a wide berth around her into the room by his students. 

"Let's get you both some rooms and fresh clothes. We have plenty of spares here in storage I'm sure." 

Yugito thinks about arguing again, about pushing at the four ninja in front of her to test for cracks in their friendly-ish demeanor. However, as she opens her mouth, a wave of dizziness washes over her and only a lifetime of burying signs of weakness with all the determination of one who's learned that not doing so gets you sent to an early grave keeps her from swaying on her feet.

Gaara, ever attuned to her, ever compassionate, leans against her side that much more firmly and answers again for the both of them. 

"Yes please." 

Kakashi Hatake's sharp eyes lock on hers as Yugito leans against Gaara, trying and, by the cutting look in his two-toned eyes, failing to appear uncompromised.

She tenses. 

The look in Kakashi's eyes shifts, goes from dissecting to something that, on another man, Yugito would call empathetic. 

"If you'll follow me," the silver haired Jonin offers quietly and he doesn't smile at her this time, doesn't try and wrap that false cheerfulness around himself like barbed wire, but he does turn his back to her and begin walking down one of the tunnels into the depths of the mountain. 

Yugito hears and sees the peace offering for what it is and, ignoring the three hellions still curled together on the couch and the little grey cat that leaps lightly back to settle among them, she allows Gaara to begin steering them down the hallway after Hatake's retreating form.

She doesn't trust these fallen angels of the Leaf, but maybe, _maybe_ she can depend on them for now. Maybe she can let herself _rest_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY NARUTO FANS! Here is a whopping 7000 words for all your holiday festivities. <3 
> 
> Hope y’all will enjoy Kakashi and Yugito bristling at each other like territorial cats. Gotta love paranoid, traumatized, overpowered, 26 year old jonin! 
> 
> I’ll be taking the next week off to spend time with family and also get ahead of the curve on what chapters I have pre-written. We’ve got some good stuff coming up if I do say so myself. 
> 
> On a slightly sappy sidenote, thanks _so much_ to you all for reading and commenting and being excited about this story. I’ve really put myself into Hellbent and to see it break 300k is… well I may be an author but it’s a feeling I don’t know how to put into words. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you again for coming on this ride with me. <3<3<3
> 
> Next chapter in celebration of the **New Year** you can expect a brand new POV, a new pairing tag and as always, _new stressors for Kakashi!_ :))) I hope everyone has a good holiday and _congrats_ for making it through 2020!!!


	22. Acting On Your Best Behavior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to your life. There's no turning back. Even while we sleep, we will find you. Acting on your best behavior, turn your back on mother nature, everybody wants to rule the world.
> 
> \- Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Lorde

Ino is going to kill Shikamaru. The urge is not a particularly new one or anything. She's been contemplating tossing the dark haired boy off a cliff since they were both pre-genin, but he's _really_ outdone himself this time.

It's cold outside. It's cold and it's early and Ino is supposed to be _off duty today_. Specifically, she's supposed to be off for the first time in more than a month. But nooooo. Shika needs her to show their new Suna contact around the village. 

Ino had tried to point out that one of the others could do it, that their peerless leader could assign Shino or maybe Tenten or literally _anyone else_ in their unit to this task. 

Anyone who hadn't had a _spa day booked for three weeks for this specific day_. 

"Trust me Ino, we need to make a good impression for this. You're the only one I trust with that." He'd told her, barely looking up from the reports spread across the desk in front of him. Motherfucking bastard with his underhanded, annoying, spa-day killing, _compliments_.

She's going to kick his ass the next time they spar. 

Ino is currently standing in front of the village's main gate wrapped in the warmest Hanten she owns. The cost is a lovely shade of purple. It's lined with soft white fur and has approximately a dozen hidden pockets in it for weapons. She utterly adores it, but even it's warmth is barely enough to fight back the early morning Fire country chill. The sun has been up for less than an hour and Ino's breath is thick and white in the frigid air.

It doesn't improve her mood that she, one, doesn't even know the name of the Sand delegate she's meeting with and, two, that said delegate is _late_. Honestly, the gall of making her stand out here in the cold like some civilian courier.

Maybe she'll make Shikamaru pay for her rescheduled day at the spa. 

A frigid gust of wind rushes down the street, whipping her long ponytail into her eyes and making her nose run. Ino sniffles miserably.

Scratch that, she's going to make him pay for an entire _weekend_ at a hot spring. With a fireplace. And a kotatsu. And unlimited hot tea. 

Gods, she's cold.

Ino dips her head to breathe warm air over her icy fingers. She is so distracted by her annoyance and frigidness and _exhaustion_ that she somehow misses the tall girl approaching her until she's standing right in front of her.

"You look like you really need a warmer jacket" offers a slightly accented, vaguely familiar voice. 

Ino whips her head up, sharp words instantly ready to leap off her tongue because _no shit_. However, her anger fizzles out when she recognizes the Kunoichi standing before her.

"Temari?" 

"Hi" greets the Sand Kunoichi, "You must be the guide Nara told me would meet up with me? Ino Yamanaka right?" 

Ino shakes off her surprise and regaining her manners replies, "Yes, hello Temari-San. Welcome back to Konoha. I hope your travels were uneventful?"

She's trying not to say, I hope you have a good reason for making me stand here in the cold for nearly an hour. 

Temari shrugs one shoulder, the massive iron battle fan that seems a permanent fixture on her back shifts as she does. With a moment to look at her, Ino can see that the blonde Kunoichi looks… older than when Ino last saw her more than two months ago during the Chunin exams. She has dark circles under her striking forest green eyes and a kind of heaviness about her that seems to constantly be weighing down the corners of her mouth. 

The shade of Temari's eyes is that same strange jade green Sakura's had been, only darker, Ino's cruel mind supplies before she can stamp the thought down. 

Temari is watching Ino back with the same consideration that Ino is observing her. She answers diplomatically, "We ran into some trouble on the border. As you probably know bandit groups have been more active lately. They decided to test their mettle against me and my companions."

"And?" the answer is fairly obvious considering that Temari is standing in front of her, as statuesque and….imposing, as she always is, but it's still polite to ask.

The Sand nin grins, the heaviness about her transitioning smoothly to smugness. "It was a miscalculation on their part." 

Ino huffs out a short laugh and a slight flush rises to her cheeks at the other girl's confidence. 

It must be the cold she thinks. 

Ino turns and gesturing for the older girl to follow her begins walking towards the building her Unit has been stationing their operation out of.

"Clearly. Well, Konoha is glad for your presence and to have your assistance on locating our...waylaid comrades."

Temari falls into step easily at her side.

"That's a creative way to say run-away Jinchuriki." Ino shrugs, "Word choice is a critical factor in morale and perception."

"Also known as, the Leaf doesn't want to admit they fucked up." 

Ino doesn't look at the Sand Chunin but she also doesn't manage to keep the cutting annoyance out of her voice, "You seem awfully confrontational for someone whose assignment is to help improve your village's relations with mine."

Temari snorts in amusement and Ino flicks her eyes to the side, watching from under her lashes as the other Kunoichi drops her hands into the pockets of her long tan jacket. 

"That's fair. My apologies for my rudeness. It's been … a long couple of months." 

Ino carefully catalogs the stress fractures sounding through Temari's otherwise steely confidence, the way her traveling wear doesn't quite manage to hide her battle worn hands tightening into fists. 

As is the case with _everything_ Shikamaru does, there is more than one reason that Ino was given this specific task. It's absolutely true that she is the most diplomatically inclined of the Team 7 Retrieval Unit, but more than that, she's also the best at reading people.

Shikamaru's voice creeps into her memory again. "Find out why Suna is extending an offer to assist with our search. No village functions on benevolence. There is something more at play." 

Ino accepts Temari's apology with a hum before continuing towards the center of Konoha.

The village is starting to wake up around them. Builders are making their way to the ongoing repairs and construction left over from the Sounds attack and merchants are setting their wares out in the street. Though it's still a few weeks away, decorations for the Rinne festival are starting to go up. Paper lanterns are set in shop windows and garlands of red camellias and white chrysanthemums are hung over doorways. 

The havoc left in the wake of Team 7 and Orochimaru is still visible but the growing festive spirit is taking some of the hard edges of that destruction off. 

Temari is glancing to and fro in the bustle, bright eyes attentive to the crowds and bright colors. 

From what Ino knows about Suna they are not only a smaller village than Konoha, but a significantly poorer one as well. Ino wonders if they celebrate the Rinne festival at all. 

A loud laugh draws her from her musings and she turns from watching Temari to see a familiar ninja posted in front of a booth selling fresh fruits. Holding a basket laden with persimmons, mikan oranges and apples, one hand on his hip and brown hair up in a neat bun, is Iruka Sensei. The chunin has a glowing smile on his face and a pale blue scarf wrapped around his neck. 

Ino is glad to see that he looks _well_. She knows from her father that her old teacher was put through the wringer by Interrogation after Team 7 defected. As someone in the immediate line of succession to take over a leading role in that department, to say Ino had been worried for Iruka would have been an understatement. 

He's clearly made it through in one piece, however. 

Ino also recognizes the shinobi who seems to be the cause of Iruka’s laughter. The slightly taller man is balancing an apple on the tip of a senbon between his teeth like a circus performer and doing jazz hands. She's had little interaction with Genma Shiranui personally but she knows he's a long time friend of her old Sensei and also a general terror to the Yamanaka headed Konoha Active Duty Psychiatric Corps. 

One of Ino's many cousins in the villages' mandated therapist offices had bemoaned the man's tendency to either flirt with or scare away his assigned therapists at a clan gathering a few months ago. Apparently even among the entire contingent of cagey, paranoid, therapy-adverse, ninja that make up the Leaf's forces, the Tokabetsu Jonin across the street from them now is a stand out.

As if sensing her stare, Genma's bright eyes flick her way. Recognition flashes across his face and with a measured jerk of his senbon he sends the apple flipping to land nearly in his hand. He murmurs something to Iruka and the teacher, smile unfaltering, turns toward Ino and her charge.

He beckons them over with a call of "Ino! Hello!"

Ino makes her way over with Temari at her heels. She knows that she is supposed to go straight to the headquarters with the Sand nin but she hasn't talked to her old Sensei since the disastrous Chunin exams and honestly, she feels a little like making Shika squirm.

Her dad always did say that she made petty pretty. 

"Hello Iruka Sensei, Shiranui-san." She offers sweetly.

"Ino, it's so good to see you! How are you? " Iruka grins brightly at her, steadying the basket of fruit on his hip. 

"I've been very well Sensei, Shikamaru is keeping us all busy." 

Iruka shakes his head, smile turning slightly disbelieving, "That boy, really! From what I hear he's turned into quite a tyrant. I couldn't even make him stay awake through lectures and now here he is putting in requests of approval for triple shifts and unfettered access to the mission and personnel archives." 

Ino sighs mournfully, her frustration only partly exaggerated.

"Oh trust me I _know_. This was supposed to be my first day off in a _month_ , and I can't even be truly mad at him because he hasn't taken a break himself in even longer!"

"Oh, you're working?" Genma offers in that warm, drawling voice. He flicks his eyes to Temari standing beside Ino with an amused flicker to his gaze, "I assumed this was more of a date scenario."

Ino turns immediately, mortifyingly, scarlet. 

"Genma be nice." Says Iruka, reaching up the scant inches that separate them to smack the assassin on the back of the head like a disapproving parent.

Temari takes this moment to step forward. "Hello. We haven't been introduced but I am Temari of the Sand. I've been assigned to assist your Chuunin Exam Invasion Investigation unit. Ino is just showing me to their offices." 

Iruka, eternally generous towards all young people, even those from other ninja villages smiles at the young Kunoichi and offers kindly "Pleased to meet you Temari. I am Iruka Umino and this is my comrade and friend Genma Shiranui. We all absolutely appreciate your assistance. What made the Suna council choose you as their delegate if you don't mind me asking?" 

Ino, still feeling like she's floundering in embarrassment and annoyance that she didn't think to _introduce Temari_ , gods what kind of guide is she, perks up instantly.

Temari's eyes narrow slightly at Iruka's question and Genma, senbon still in his mouth, tags on with a smile that's more mischief than curiosity "Ruka makes a good point! You're awfully young for a diplomat Temari-San."

Ino shifts surreptitiously so she can study Temari's face out of the corner of her eye. The tick of annoyance and dare she say, tension, in Temari's jaw is obvious as daylight to her discerning eyes.

Damn it all, Ino thinks, Shikamaru was right. There is more at play here than. 

"You're right Umino-San, Shirunai-san," Temari responds graciously. Her voice is collected and steady, but Ino still notices her hands clench and relax several times in her pockets. 

"I am young, but as not only a child of the Fourth Kazekage but also a sibling to a Jinchuriki myself, our elders decided I would be the best candidate to coordinate with our ally the Leaf." 

She's good. Ino can recognize the same training of statecraft and decorum in Temari that she herself has received as a future clan head.

She's good, but Ino is better, and so when Temari says "sibling" Ino hears the bitterness and misery it hides and when she says "Jinchuriki" she hears the fear and furtiveness.

Ino isn't a genius like Shikamaru or even a strategist like…like Sakura had been, but she is a Yamanaka. 

"Secrets are our sustenance." Inoichi used to tell Ino when she was still small and wide eyed and aching to be something great, "the Yamanaka are at our core truth seekers. We lay open minds like our comrades do flesh and we uncover those creeping things that would threaten our village. Be it as therapist, interrogator or front line soldier, truth finds its way through us." 

Whatever Temari is trying to hide regarding her youngest brother, the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, is absolutely a threat until proven otherwise. Ino can still remember the flaying, grating feeling of the other boys' chakra from when they met in the Apothecary. 

Gaara of the Sand is a very real and present danger to the Leaf. Especially without a current Jinchuriki of their own to match him. 

Ino knows they have to get to the bottom of this.

"What about you two?" Temari asks, innocent on the surface but something poised and mean as a rattlesnake close underneath, "how long have you two been dating?" 

All three of the present Konoha nin stare at Temari for a few shocked beats and then explode into various states of disarray.

Ino, suddenly extremely sidetracked from her thoughts of espionage by the very _idea_ of her schoolteacher, a man who helped raise her, dating _anyone_ , let alone someone cousin Isao described as "a curse on all honest and genuine therapists". She nearly swallows her tongue in shock and begins coughing in a very unladylike manner.

Iruka, flushes bright red making the scar on his nose stand out even more sharply and sputters, "We're just roommates and comrades and friends and I'm _really_ not looking for anyone to date at the moment honestly and-" 

Genma howls in laughter and then, dropping one arm around Iruka's shoulder, he leans to plant an audibly, horrifyingly wet kiss directly into the still spluttering school teacher's ear. Iruka cuts off his own rant with a shriek of incensed shock at the invasion of his personal space and then immediately tries to hit Genma with the basket of fruit he's holding. 

Ino, still coughing, doesn't miss the smug look on Temari's face as produce goes flying from the weaponized basket. For the moment, the topic of the young kunoichi's qualifications and motivations has been completely lost among the bedlam of escaping apples and oranges. 

Ino hasn't forgotten though.

After the lost fruit has been recollected and Genma has been cuffed multiple times over the head by a still flushed Iruka, the two pairs of ninja go to part ways.

"Ino, if you're free sometime I'd love to meet up and hear about the work you, Shikamaru, Choji and all the others are doing. I'm so incredibly proud of you kids." Iruka's smile is nearly the exact same one Ino remembers him wearing the first time she had managed to create a clone, all genuine, heartfelt pride.

There is the faintest tickle of disquiet in the back of her mind for some reason, but the warmth that blooms in her chest swamps it almost immediately. She grins honestly at her former teacher. 

"I'd love that Sensei. I'll drag the boys to your place for tea sometime soon!"

Iruka thanks her and then makes his way off down the street with a wave, Genma trailing after him like a particularly vexatious puppy.

Temari watches them go before asking with slight fascination "Is that how you Leaf nin are with each other _all the time_?" 

Ino thinks about the Leafs reputation for the strength of the bonds forged between its shinobi and shrugs one of her shoulders.

"More or less. From what I've heard through the grapevine, Genma and some of our other Tokabetsu Jonin have become especially close with Iruka since Team 7's defection. But many of our ninja are friends with each other. A shinobi of Konoha will _always_ put their comrades' life above their own. We protect our people. It's the village's way."

Temari hums consideringly but doesn't push further. 

Ino is curious. Even beyond her constant itch to pry for knowledge, she genuinely finds herself wondering about the perceptions of the older girl walking beside her.

"What about you Temari san? Do you have many close friends and comrades back in Suna?" 

"No." Temari offers the answer as blandly as one would report about what they had for lunch that day.

Ino furrows her brows, "No? But you're the late Kazekage's eldest daughter. Surely you have no shortage of opportunities-"

"Ino," Temari cuts her off unapologetically and Ino would be more annoyed by that if she wasn't so utterly confused as to how Temari could possibly have _no friends_ , "The Chuunin back there, Unimo san, he was your academy teacher correct?" 

Ino nods silently.

"I was never enrolled in Suna's academy. My brothers and I had private tutors from the time we could walk and I've been expected to carry myself with the decorum and poise of a Kazekage's daughter for just as long."

The sand nin doesn't say she doesn't have time for friends but the understanding still echoes in the space between them.

Ino lets the awkward subject drop but something about the inflection with which Temari says brothers tugs at her, some thought just beyond her reach teasing her. 

A secret. 

They are nearing the Hokage tower. Though the sun is now higher in the sky, the wind seems to be picking up so the chill that is creeping under Ino's warm coat isn't lessening. Thankfully, she and Temari are only a few blocks short of the small group of offices that were assigned to Shikamaru and the rest of the Team 7 Retrieval Unit. 

All in total between her and Choji, Team 8, Team Gai, and their illustrious leader, the space is cramped, to put it mildly. There are about another dozen or so ninja in rotation under Shikamaru's command but thank the gods they don't make it a common practice to come in person to the heart of their intelligence operations. 

Shika, madman that he's become, has filled the space with towering stacks of seemingly random information. Everything from reports by a Chuunin who ran three missions with Hatake six years ago to fishing itineraries from Wave can be found in their offices.

If it was anyone else, Ino would swear they'd gone mad, but she's gotten to have a front seat to the impossibility that is her teammates' mind at work for most of her life now. She knows there is a method among the madness. A miracle waiting to happen. 

She wonders if Temari will see the same thing.

Ino is paying close attention to her charge but even still she can't help the soft smile as they pass by a display window, decorated beautifully for Rinne. It's Choji's favorite bakery and the young woman who runs it is in the middle of placing out festively decorated steamed buns in red and white and gold. Choji always jokes that this little store is the only place in town that can make better buns than his dad. 

Ino pauses in front of the bakery. Maybe she can grab a few for her teammate once she's delivered Temari into Shikamaru's clutches...

A strong and frigid gust of wind suddenly surges down the street and for the second time that morning, the Yamanaka's many days of work without rest catch up with her and she finds herself distracted. 

There is a loud cracking sound from above the small shop and a panicked shout. Before Ino even fully realizes what's happening there is a rush of movement. 

Ino may only be a Chunin and not even a frontline fighter at that, but she still grew up in one of the most esteemed and respected ninja families in all of Konoha. Her instincts are sharp. So when she feels Temari darting into her blindspot and senses the other teen drawing her massive battle fan, Ino doesn't even think before snatching a Kunai out of a hidden pocket of her Hanten and whirling to press the blade against the other Kunoichi's throat.

There is an impact and then stillness as the dust literally settles. 

It takes only a moment for Ino to realize how terribly she's miscalculated. 

Temari is leaning over her, strong arms straining slightly as she uses her fan to brace against the massive piece of lumber that was knocked free from above them by the wind, above Ino specifically. 

Ino, who had been so busy looking into the bakery window that she wouldn't have moved from under it in time. 

Temari's dark eyes are watching her, breaths elevated with the strain of holding up the weight above them but careful against the edge of the kunai under her chin. Each puff of air falls on Ino's wind pinked cheeks. 

She is very close. Temari smells like sweat and road dust but under that is the warm smell of cloves and something sweet like caramel.

Ino drops the blade and steps backward, creating a safe amount of space between them. She tries to convince herself that the way her heart has kicked into overdrive in her chest is simply adrenaline. 

Seeing that she's moved free, Temari gives a huff of exertion, lifts the heavy lumber off of her and tilts it to the side where it crashes to the ground. She rolls out her shoulders against the strain and then slings her battle fan onto her back again with ease.

Above them one of the builders is shouting down apologies and asking if they're okay. Ino waves him off distractedly. She finds herself watching the obvious play of muscles on the other girls' shoulders as she wields the massive weapon with ease. A piece of blonde hair has escaped from her buns to curl against her tan cheek.

Ino's fingers itch to reach out and touch it.

She shakes it off, furious with herself. Temari is a tentative ally at best and is more likely an enemy waiting for a moment of vulnerability. 

Besides, Ino has learned her lesson about dangerous, pretty girls. They are nothing but heartbreak waiting to happen.

"Are you okay?" Temari asks her. 

Ino nods mutely but her mind is whirling. More than just the ridiculous longings of a stupid preteen girl, the adrenaline still rushing through her has knocked a thought loose like a leaf torn from its branch in a gale. 

The Yamanaka stares as Temari, who unaware of her realizations, glares up at the still sheepish faces of the builders above them. 

Ino’s eyes trace over the other young woman and while she’s still...distracting, now Ino is less focused on her looks and more on the exhaustion lining her face, the road dirt coating her hair, the buried, nearly desperate light to her eyes as she turns back to Ino. 

Temari’s voice echoes through Ino’s thoughts, the way she’d said brother, and Jinchuriki, the tension with which she moves, the fear she keeps burying. Her thoughts clutch on Suna’s insistence in sending someone to help the Leaf find Naruto, on specifically sending _Temari_ …

It clicks. 

The wind gusts down the street again as the cold winter sun shines down on the two young women. Temari must see that something has changed because she straightens, face closing off. Those dark green eyes, so clever, so fearful meet Ino’s own without apology. It’s almost as if she’s daring Ino to put together the pieces. 

“You lost yours too” Ino says into the frigid air between them. The words come out as steam in the cold and she feels their heat in her mouth, their danger. 

Because Suna’s Jinchuriki, Temari’s youngest brother, is also missing.

Ino is sure of it. 

Temari just stares back at her. She doesn’t nod, doesn’t so much as move to confirm what Ino knows is correct and maybe the sudden furious tears glittering in her eyes could be attributed to the stinging, drying wind but…

Ino is a Yamanaka. She knows the truth when she’s found it. 

On steps more sure than they have felt in a while, Ino strides into Temari’s space and grabs her wrist. Without so much as another word, she begins hauling the taller girl towards the office where Shikamaru is waiting for them. The streets have far too many ears after all and with something of this magnitude Ino needs the safety of walls and wards and a unit she depends on. 

“Hey!” Temari tries halfheartedly to shake off Ino’s grip on her but, being something of an expert on hauling gangly, smarter than their own good, ninjas places they don’t want to go from a childhood spent alongside Shikamaru, Ino just ignores her.

“Ino what the _hell_? Let go of me!” 

“No. We need to hurry now. I’m not some strategist or politician but if what I just said is true then things are way worse than we already thought they were.”

Temari snarls her annoyance and twists her wrist again, fighting almost on instinct against the indignity of being manhandled by a girl both younger and weaker than her. 

“Would you stop!” Ino hisses at her, quickly turning down a side street crowded with boxes belonging to the tailor shop it borders. 

She yanks Temari into an alcove between two higher stacks of merchandise and glares up at her pointedly. 

Any traitorous thoughts of Temari’s height and beauty have been shuffled ruthlessly to the back of Ino’s mind with the new information she’s uncovered. If they hadn’t been though, if Ino wasn’t so focused on getting the other girl back to Shika without drawing any more unnecessary attention when who knows what spies or enemies could be listening, Ino would be very _very_ distracted right now. 

Temari is close again, and angry and...tall. 

“We cannot talk about this more here.” Ino starts, silently daring Temari to try and speak over her again, “We will not so much mention what I said a few minutes ago in the market until we are somewhere warded and secure.”

Temari stares at her, dark teal eyes as focused and frigid as the deepest of rivers in fire country. “What you said a few minutes ago isn’t even true.” her voice is rough and cruel and still, _still_ , Ino can hear that current of terror swimming through her.

“You are grasping at straws to make up for your own fucking villages shortcomings-”

Ino slaps a hand over Temari’s mouth. In another time, another place, another version of her who has lost less would be appalled at her rudeness and lack of subtlety but right now Ino _really_ needs Temari to get with the program and _stop talking_. 

Voice so quiet that the winter wind threatens to snatch any audibility completely away from her lips she says “Temari of the Sand, if it is true that your brother, the One-tail Jinchuriki disappeared and you are _here_ because you don’t know where he is then that means two of the greatest Shinobi villages have lost their Jinchuuriki in the span of two months. That is not an accident. That is not a fluke. Something is happening here. Something much bigger and _much worse_ is at play than my fucking village's shortcomings or yours for that matter.”

Temari stares, the fear slipping closer and closer to the surface of her features as Ino lays the damning truth out before them both. 

Ino pushes on. 

“Clearly you came to us for a reason and you...well, you did save my life back there, and honestly, I think we can trust you. Please, extend the same to me and my team and we will figure this out.”

Ino removes her hand from Temari’s mouth and hopes with all her heart that the other girl will listen. 

Temari is silent for so long that Ino becomes conscious of the cold of the bricks pressed against her back and of that strange, lovely caramel scent that seems to cling to Temari. She waits, the steam of her breath intermingling with the Sand Kunoichi’s in the charged space between them.

Finally, impossibly, Temari grits out “Fine.” and she steps back and gestures for Ino to lead her out of the alley. 

She does, trying not to sprint or project the desperate worry now tugging at her gut too obviously. As they hurry through the cold dawn of Konoha Ino can’t help but think, maybe this whole time they had all been thinking of Team 7’s defection wrong. They talk about it as a tragedy, a betrayal of the highest order, a mystery. 

Maybe it is actually none of those things. 

Maybe it’s the opening moves of a war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears! Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. 
> 
> As promised, both a new pairing and some new perspectives in this one! I unapologetically love Ino/Temari. I’m an all around sucker for rarepairs and this one is easily one of my favorites. 
> 
> Anyway, next week you can expect a chapter that is the equivalent of two different sides to a single coin. Yes I’m being cryptic. No I will not elaborate. As always, cannot wait to hear your thoughts! <3


	23. It Still Sits In My Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I'd be a killer because there's so much to lose, but if I can't drink the water what else can I do. And although the axe is heavy it still sits in my hands. 
> 
> \- Make Up Your Mind, Florence + The Machine 
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

It's been two months, one week, and five days since Obito found out about Team 7's defection. 

That's a veritable eternity in his book. With the strength of the Akatsuki, the concentrated skill and underworld connections they possess, Obito should have all the information he could possibly want regarding where Kakashi and his brats have fled to.

Obito should know what they had for fucking _breakfast_.

Instead, not only does Obito still have no fucking clue where the Nine-tails Jinchuriki and his team have disappeared to, but he's also lost _two more_ Jinchuriki since then.

And now a fourth has slipped his surveillance.

Obito slams his fist against the wall of his quarters. His snarl of fury echoes back from where it meets the porcelain of his mask, warped and twisted, to his ears.

Nagato, standing behind him with the aid of a walker and some of the new high grade painkillers they've diverted from Kumo, flinches noticeably at his rage. Konan, posted next to her best friend, guard and nurse and right hand all in one, simply frowns at his outburst. 

Obito hates them both. Hates them and this fucking mountain they are buried in like a tomb and this whole organization and Kakashi and himself and the whole _fucking_ world.

He punches the wall again. There is a dual crack, stone splitting under his strength even as his bones fracture under the impact.

The immediate pain brings some clarity through the red haze of fury, a thread of rationality. 

He turns, ignoring the blood running down his fingers, soaking the black of his gloves, and, wrenching himself under control, demands in a voice as calm as a cyclone in a glass bottle, 

"Tell me again."

Konan narrows her eyes at him, opening her mouth to argue. 

Nagato lifts an emaciated hand to grab her arm before she can. 

Smart, Obito thinks. His figurehead still has enough of that once brilliant mind rattling around in his skull to understand that no matter what words she used, anything that Konan says in this moment that is more confrontational than "Yes Madara" may as well be a request for death.

Nagato and Konan exchange a look and an entire conversation passes between them in a moment. The withered, human, part of Obito's mind that he hasn't managed to kill yet aches with loneliness and memories of what once was at the display and he has to hold himself back from lunging across the space with fury. 

He needs these two out of his space as soon as possible or he's going to do something he regrets. 

"Nagato. Explain _again_." He bites out, an order and a threat all in one.

Nagato turns from his friend, as carefully as if he was walking a tightrope made of ash. 

"Our contact in Mist has lost contact with Harusame, the guardian of Utakata, Jinchuriki of the six-tails. Upon further investigation their dwelling was found destroyed and what we assume to be Harusame's body amid the wreckage."

"And we are sure the worthless old fuck was killed by Utakata? That someone else hasn't absconded with our Jinchuriki since there seems to be _several_ new openings for the position among the great Shinobi Villages?" Obito knows his voice sounds like razor blades but he doesn't care.

Nagato shakes his head. 

"Considering that his corpse was practically liquified and some of the known powers of the Rokubi are acid based…"

"Fine." Obito begins to pace. He needs all the possible pieces if he's going to scrape together a chance to find this Jinchuuriki before he vanishes like all the others have. Because of course this is related, the world despises Obito far too much for it to not be related. One doesn't simply lose four unimaginably powerful vessels of chakra _randomly_. 

"Why did the Six Tails attack his sensei? I thought we had marked him as one of the more stable of the beasts," he demands. 

Konan cuts in to recount the information they have this time, "Our contact found some of Harusame's journals that survived the destruction of the fight. Apparently, Urakata had been growing distant and increasingly hostile for nearly three months. According to what Harusame wrote, he thought it was the influence of the Rokubi's evil wearing on the boy." 

Obito snorts but waves a hand for Konan to continue.

She doesn't for several beats, exchanging a weighted glance with Nagito. The Rinnegan user steps in, his hesitance even greater than before. 

"He apparently planned to try and extract the beast from Utakata and destroy it. We think that in his attempt Utakata lost control and killed his sensei before fleeing."

Obito freezes, the rage in his blood going from burning to icy cold in an instant.

"How complete were these plans of Harusame's?" 

"Madara…" Konan says worriedly, but for all his brilliance Nagato was never good at seeing a threat until its teeth were already in his throat and so he cuts in. 

"Very complete. It may have worked given a few more shinobi to assist him and-"

Obito is across the room in an instant, slamming the sickly man backward into the wall before he finishes drawing breath to complete the sentence.

"Nagato!" Konan shouts, paper shuriken lifting fully formed from her skin instantly. They hover menacingly in the air above her, waiting for the barest twitch of chakra to send them hurtling towards Obito's back. 

They'd never reach him though. Not in this mood.

Nagato isn't struggling against his leader's iron grip. His purple ringed eyes are wide and shocked, and his Uzumaki red hair hangs into his face. 

Voice soft, gentle in opposition to the furious tremble to his hand around Nagato's throat, Obito says, 

"So you mean to tell me that we somehow, almost lost _everything_ we have worked towards because professor paranoia decided he wanted to go digging in one of our sacrificial beast's seals. Do you understand what would have happened if he had succeeded in destroying the Rokubi?"

"Obito let him go." Konan's paper in the air buzzes like a swarm of hornets and the fear in her voice makes the ugliest, cruelest parts of Obito hum with pleasure. 

He ignores her. 

"Your job, Nagato, is very simple. All I ask of you is that you continue standing as the head of this organization, dispensing my will like the good little marionette you are and that you listen and return the important, _useful_ information that all our crawling, simpering informants collect. You're a capable ninja, a brilliant mind, and a holder of the most powerful dojutsu known to shinobi. Are these simple tasks too much for even _you_ to handle?" 

Obito digs his nails into the fragile skin of Nagato's throat, mask only inches away from the man’s nose as he waits for an answer.

The room is silent except for the desperate whir of paper and the panting breaths of the two Ame orphans who created the Akatsuki.

"They are not. I'm sorry Madara. I won't miss something like this again," Nagato manages. His voice trembles, a cough rattling at the top of his throat as he desperately suppresses it. 

Obito releases him and steps back.

Nagato sags against the wall, barely able to support himself as coughing begins to wreck his thin frame and blood drips from his lips.

Konan is across the room in an instant, supporting him and putting her body between her sickly best friend and Obito.

Golden eyes meet the black hole of his mask, furious and full of judgment.

For just a moment, a flash of shadow falls across them and the gold shifts to brown and Obito's tedious, patchwork sanity, bends and groans. He could have sworn that for a moment, Konan had the eyes of another young Kunoichi, one who would also not condone his actions and efforts here.

Obito shakes his head desperately, presses one hand against his mask so that the cool porcelain rests more fully against his warped skin. 

He feels like he's being pulled apart at the edges and all his plans, all his hopes to fix what has broken in the world are falling through the cracks in his mind.

"We have to be better," he whispers from behind his gloved and trembling hand.

"We cannot make mistakes like this again. If we fail to collect all the tailed beasts we will lose _everything_. You two will never see your families, or an Unbroken Ame or Yahiko ever again." 

The fury on Konan's pale face doesn't lessen but Nagato, so idealistic, so kind, offers softly, "We'll do better Madara-san."

"Do we have any leads where he's gone?"

"No, but he was hurt when he ran. Our informant's summons found blood that didn't belong to Harusame. Maybe that means he'll be vulnerable and we'll catch a lucky break." Nagato stands from where he was propped against the wall, using Konan as support since his walker is still several feet away. 

His throat is already beginning to bruise where Obito's fingers dug into sickly skin.

Obito steps further back, a horrible concoction of anger and shame and terror warring under his skin.

As much as it could really be called his skin anymore.

As much as any of Obito is really Obito anymore.

He knows better than to think they'll catch a lucky break. The loss of the Jinchuriki, the death of Saratobi, and Kakashi's defection, it's all connected somehow like some giant spiderweb and Obito feels like the damned fly wrapped in its midst desperately yanking at threads before he's swallowed whole.

"Is that all Madara?" Konan twists the name like it's a curse and Obito almost laughs. He certainly feels cursed, feels like the dream passed on to him by the man who rescued him, damned him, is a torment equal to a curse. 

He wishes he'd died in that cave.

Unbidden, his mind summons an image of Kakashi, somewhere hidden away from Obito. He's still always one step ahead of you, still always better, his thoughts whisper with gleeful cruelty. 

Obito clenches his fist, ignoring the agonizing grinding of broken bones. He turns away and with a swirl of his red and black cloak heads toward the door.

"Find the damned Rokubi." 

He doesn't wait to hear his subordinates, never friends he doesn't _have friends_ anymore, agree.

He stalks into the depths of the Mountains graveyard. Leave the friendships and love and _bonds_ to his subordinates, his tools. The last person that Obito ever loved has already proven time and time again that he never once gave a damn about Obito. 

Kakashi may be winning right now, but he is going to find him, him and all the Jinchuriki that Obito knows in his heart are hiding with him, _taunting_ him. He's not going to let Kakashi get away with everything he's done.

Obito is going to make him pay, or he's going to die trying. 

~

Iruka waves goodbye to Izumo and ducks through the front door of his apartment. He stomps his feet to shake off the light dusting of snow that clings to his boots and reaches to hang up his old wool hanten on the hooks by the door.

He hopes Izumo makes it home to Kotetsu quickly, the night is cold. 

His fellow Chunin still insists on walking him home from late shifts at the mission desk most days. Something about making sure Iruka gets inside in one piece. 

It's been more than a month since Iruka received any threats or outright harassment but his friends still seem on edge regarding his well being. Genma has managed to wrangle what was supposed to be a few days on his couch into Iruka more or less moving into his spare bedroom and Anko has become such a staple around the academy that Iruka is pretty sure his kids are growing to like her more than him.

Mostly because she keeps showing them how to spit dango sticks hard enough to make someone bleed which may not be the best thing to teach hyperactive ten year olds, but who is he to dissuade them from learning that weapons can come in any shape or size.

He appreciates their hovering in some ways.

Iruka loves his friends and he would be lying if he said the first couple weeks after Naruto and his team left he wasn't jumping at shadows and ready for a knife in the back at any moment. Anko and Genma and Raidou and the others are pretty much the only thing that got him through that time. 

Them, and knowing that Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi were depending on him.

It's been two months, two weeks, and one day since Team 7 ran.

Iruka misses them so much it feels like a physical wound.

He misses Sakura's brilliance and determination. He misses Sasuke's quiet certainty and flashes of passion.

He misses Naruto. Without the boy it’s like a hollow has been dug in Iruka's life with a rusty Kunai. He's glad that he lives with Genma now because his once shoebox apartment feels massive and empty when it doesn’t have the blonde's shoes tossed by the front door and his voice bouncing off the peeling wallpaper and his frequent presence at Iruka's dinner table. 

He misses Kakashi. He's most surprised by that, most _undone_ by it. He would have expected to be impacted by the Jonin’s absence the least out of all of them and yet, after the particularly hard days, the ones where it feels like Iruka has a target on his back and eyes following him wherever he goes, he aches to be back in that old, run-down kitchen on the Hatake clan lands, bumping elbows with Kakashi over cups of coffee and laughing late into the night.

It's fine though. It's not like Team 7 and their Sensei are completely gone from his life.

Iruka has information to report after all.

As he ducks into his small dark kitchen and flicks on the overhead light he's met by the sleepily blinking gaze of the pug that is curled on the middle of his kitchen table.

"Took ya' long enough, Sensei," Pakun grumbles at him, rising to all four paws shaking his head to clear any weariness.

If Iruka still lived in this apartment he would be _very_ upset at the sight of the summons muddy paws on a surface he prepares food but considering that the only reason he's kept the lease on this place is to have somewhere safe to meet Kakashi's summons…

"Hello Pakun. Sorry to make you wait. There were a few more outgoing missions than I expected to have to look through tonight. How are you?" 

It's taking every ounce of decorum in his body not to snatch the scroll he can see tied around the dog's neck and start reading _immediately_. He hasn't heard from Kakashi in nearly two weeks and while that's nothing compared to the hell that was the two months of silence before the first letter he's still anxious to know that everything is okay. 

"I'm just fine Sensei." The dog twists awkwardly and using his teeth pulls the scroll free from his collar and flips it to Iruka.

"So you don't jump me for it or give yourself a nosebleed forcin' all the social niceties," Pakun says with an amused smirk.

Iruka grabs the scroll from the air with desperate fingers. 

He's known since before noon today when he caught a glance of the small dog out of the corner of his eye at recess, that Pakun had another letter for him. 

Of course, Iruka still had to go about his day as if everything was normal and he wasn’t _dying_ to hear that Kakashi and the kids are still safe and okay, but he had managed it.

Iruka has had to become a very good liar over the past couple of months.

Unrolling the paper with trembling fingers he begins to read.

If someone had tried to tell Iruka a year ago that the sight of Kakashi's abominable penmanship would bring him anything other than indignant rage he would have laughed in their face. Now though, the Jonin's shitty, scrawling, disorganized kanji is like a breath of fresh air after a year spent buried in a shallow grave. 

He's misty eyed by the third paragraph and openly crying by the seventh. 

They are doing well. More than well they are _thriving_. Sakura is going to fix the Eight Trigrams seal and Sasuke has summons and Naruto is getting so strong and Iruka wants suddenly so badly to be there with them. He loves all his students. He loves teaching. But somewhere along the way Team 7 became more than just his students in his mind.

But Iruka has to stay here. He has a job to do and he will do it to keep them safe.

"Kakashi is doing okay too?" Iruka asks Pakun as he finishes the last few lines of the update. He has to ask because Iruka knows for a fact that the damned Jonin wouldn't include anything about his own wellbeing even if one of his arms had been chewed off. 

The pug tilts his head thoughtfully before nodding slowly.

"It's strange. He's… more relaxed. The pack hasn't seen him like this in years." 

"And that's good?" Iruka can read between the lines but in this he won't risk misunderstanding.

"Very good." Pakun agrees.

Iruka looks down fondly at the mess of a letter under his fingers. He doesn't know the entity of the tragedy that went into creating Kakashi, but he can put together some of the mysterious Jonin’s history. 

"The kids are good for him. Having something to care about and protect that is alive and loves him back...that must make all the difference in the world." 

Pakun raises one fuzzy eyebrow at him. 

"Don't fool yourself thinkin' it's just the pups Sensei." 

Iruka can't suppress the flush that rises to his cheeks. He gives a slightly self deprecating laugh and rubs the nape of his neck. 

"Yes well, I'm glad to have his friendship too." 

Pakun stares at him blankly for several beats and then runs an exhausted paw down his face, mumbling something that Iruka can't quite make out, though it sounds less than complimentary.

"Any other news that didn't make it into the letter?" Iruka asks and at the same time he draws a scroll of his own from his messenger bag. It contains all the information Iruka has been able to glean about the ongoing search for Team 7, including patrols near the border of Wave and _anything_ else that Iruka could think of that may be useful to Kakashi. 

Pakun takes the scroll from Iruka as his exasperation shifts into a grin. "Yeah, there is somethin'. The One-tail and Two-tails showed up in Uzushio yesterday all exhausted and pissy and asked for sanctuary." 

Iruka stares, trying to even begin processing that information.

A few puzzle pieces click into place in his mind rapidly. 

"Oh my gods, that's why Temari is here."

"Come again?"

Iruka drops into one of the creaky chairs at the table and sinks his fingers into his hair, thoughts spinning.

"Suna sent a delegate to help with Shikamaru's search for Kakashi and the kids. It's Temari of the Sand, Gaara's older sister. I ran into her in the market today and she was all tense and guarded and…holy shit, Sand is trying to use our resources to find Gaara, and if Gaara is in Uzushio now…" 

Iruka raises his eyes to meet Pakuns' wide ones.

"Team 7 just doubled the number of enemies they have overnight." 

Pakun drops back on his haunches and huffs out a breath that's half laugh, half sigh.

"That fucking pup. Of course he'd manage to drag me and the pack into a war against not one but two of the great ninja villages." 

"Three if you count whoever's looking for… uh sorry what is the Jinchiriki of the Two-tails name?"

"Yugito Nii, and you, schoolteacher, are really not helping." 

Iruka scrambles his hands through his hair, uncaring of the horribly tangled mess he's making. 

"Sorry, sorry, this is just...a lot and I'm worried about them. More now than ever."

Tears are pricking at his eyes again and Iruka feels a little ridiculous for it, he's twenty three and a very capable ninja after all but...gods he's _afraid_. 

He knew from the moment that he decided to help Naruto and his team that this wouldn't be easy. He had never expected to cruise through spying on the most powerful ninja village in the world but he also hadn't been prepared for what exactly it would mean to turn traitor.

Iruka is _exhausted_. The past two months have been nonstop checking over his shoulder and watching every word he says and lying to all his precious people and expecting a knife in the back at any moment. It's been having to cling to his trust in Kakashi and his love for Naruto with every ounce of his will as the Interrogation Unit twisted and manipulated and ran him in circles. It's been having to move out of the apartment he lived in since he was sixteen because of death threats. It's been sleepless nights and fourteen hour workdays and memorizing patrol schedules to tell Pakun knowing that if he misses something that it could mean the Uzushio archives are discovered. It’s being constantly _terrified_ that any moment someone will come running up to him cheering that the traitorous Team 7 was caught and executed.

And now, everything is about to get even more dangerous for the people he cares about. 

"You have to go tell Kakashi right away." He knows Pakun can hear the tremble in his voice but he pushes the embarrassment at his own weakness away.

"Iruka, I'll tell him but I think you're overreactin'. Kakashi may not be the most...discerning ninja at all times but he's still smart and so is that damned cat Yugito. They already know that the villages are after them…"

"But they don't know their _collaborating_! It's something we teach even at the academy level courses on information gathering. Sharing information with your allies isn't a simple sum game of what each party knows, it's exponential growth. It's creating a more complete picture than either had before. And if that picture gets too clear…" 

The small dog and the school teacher stare at each other for several beats, each filling in where Iruka's voice has failed him.

"Shit," Pakun says darkly, "you said that Temari was hiding why she was involved though? Maybe Konoha won't put together that the Sand pup has run too?"

Iruka scoffs and rubs his hands over his face. The panic is fading and the rushing static of pure exhaustion is rising. 

"I wouldn't even put a single ryo on that bet Pakun. If Ino-chan doesn't figure out what's going on before she's even gotten that girl in front of Shikamaru, then he will in less time than it takes for Temari to say 'improved diplomatic relations'." 

"Shit, I'll warn them Sensei," the pug pauses, considering Iruka.

Immediately Iruka rearranges his features, burying the exhaustion and fear behind a somewhat shaky smile. He knows that this information bridge goes two ways and that Pakun is absolutely reporting back to Kakashi on him. The schoolteacher isn't sure why but he gets the feeling that if Kakashi hears how tired he is, how worn down and tremulous and barely holding it together… 

Well, he doesn't actually know what would happen. Most likely nothing, but he doesn't want to risk being a distraction for the other man.

He has enough to worry about without Iruka's weakness adding to his stress.

"Thank you Pakun. I don't have anything else for you so please get this information back to Kakashi as quickly as possible."

The pug looks like he's contemplating saying something else for a few seconds. Iruka just smiles harder, forcing the trembles in his hands to still.

"Alright Sensei…" the summons finally manages hesitantly, " anything else I should tell Kakashi for ya'?"

A dozen things instantly gather at the back of Iruka's teeth. Useless, dangerous, fools things. 

Things like, "I miss you". 

"No Pakun, you're dismissed." 

There's that look again on the small dog's face, like Iruka is an idiot and Pakun is trying to figure out the easiest way to tell him that. Deciding, thankfully, to hold his tongue, the pug gives one more short nod and then disappears in a puff of smoke.

The moment the Kakashi's summons is gone Iruka drops forward onto the table like his strings have been cut. He presses his face against the cool wood and tries to suppress the trembling sobs that force past his lips. That static is rising like dark water. Fear and helplessness and so much exhaustion that Iruka feels too tired to even breathe right. 

Iruka pushes his forehead harder against the table. His mind produces an image of Kakashi and the kids. Hidden and together and getting stronger.

Iruka is going to keep them that way. He's going to keep them safe no matter what forces muster against them. He knows in his heart that this is the most important thing to him now. He will not let Kakashi down. 

Iruka will keep them safe, or he will die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Here’s the Iruka check-in that y’all have been _dying_ for! See he’s okay, uh, ish?
> 
> Seriously though, I am so excited to read y’alls thoughts about this one. I absolutely love writing for both of these boys. Obito because he’s _so_ smart and _so_ fucked up and Iruka because he’s just the best boy. Additionally, we have some very heavy hinting of what’s to come down the road and I know for a fact that some of you will catch on. A cookie goes to the first person to guess my plans! *Claps my evil little writer hands together with glee*
> 
> Next week you can expect another _long_ Uzushio chapter of which my poor, long suffering editor was like “Lucky, why must you do this to me?” Anyway, prayer circle for Lover and sending hugs to all of youuuuu.


	24. The Stars Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look up at the stars tonight. There's gotta be more to life. I see it, you see it, but it ain't real if you don't believe it.  
> The best world is the one you make, not held by the hands of fate. I feel it, you feel it, but it ain't real if you don't believe it.
> 
> \- Don't Believe It, Molly Moore
> 
> Edited by loverinstinct and FlightL3ss_Bird1029

Five weeks have passed since Gaara and Yugito reached Uzushio. 

The first of those weeks were spent sequestered away in the room that the former Konoha nin had provided them. Their isolation was self imposed, driven by ongoing paranoia from Yugito and ongoing exhaustion from Gaara. Apparently, it takes more than a few good nights of sleep to overcome more than a lifetime of trauma in both their cases. 

However, like a law of the universe, before too long both he and Yugito found themselves being drawn by the gravity of the communal areas, which always seem bustling with the energy that Team 7 exudes like light.

Gaara likes to think of Team 7 as light. 

It helps him feel a little better about how… squinty he feels around them, how overwhelmed.

In his head he sees Sakura as starlight. She's brilliant and a million places at once, thoughts spinning above his level of understanding in a way that would make him feel dumb if he wasn't so impressed by it. The moment he thinks he actually understands her, she's flickering and shifting into something else. 

Sasuke is moonlight, cool and easy to be around. He's direct, but some days he is so quiet it's almost like he's not there at all while other days he's glowing with confidence and drive. He doesn't seem to _like_ Gaara particularly, most people don't like him he knows, but he also doesn't seem to hate him and he's easier to be around than…

Well, Naruto, who is obviously sunlight. Gaara wants to like Naruto. He _does_ like Naruto! The One-tail Jinchuriki feels impossibly, hopelessly drawn to the other boy. That shared something still vibrates between them like a plucked string but Naruto is just… a lot. Bright and happy and _loud_ and…

Gaara is still getting used to him.

His metaphor amuses Gaara most when he watches Naruto and Sasuke's interaction. Naruto is ever shining and golden and burning with destiny and Sasuke is stuck in his gravitation and reflecting his joy back at him with quiet and imperfect and _helpless_ smiles. 

Gaara wonders if they realize they are in love with each other yet.

Kakashi-san is light too, but only kind of. To Gaara, the man that Shukaku still calls Wolf is like lightning. He's somehow both cold and white hot, a deadly contradiction in motion. Most of the time he reminds Gaara of the heat lightning that used to flash far above Suna, distant, sleepy, and more calming than a threat. But there's been a few times that Gaara catches a flicker of the Sharingan watching him too closely, or that first confrontation upon their arrival…

Gaara knows better to think of Kakashi as a distant danger.

All and all, when he's around Team 7 too long he feels a bit like the sun-bleary and confused salamanders he used to pluck off sandstone walls to play with as a boy. He's not _upset_ about the presence of all these exceedingly bright people around him but he also thinks he's never met people with so much determination, so much energy. It's a little exhausting but he's… drawn to it, craves it like those sleepy lizards used to crave warmth. 

In the beginning, Yugito seemed significantly less than enamored with their gracious hosts. 

The Nibi Jinchuriki and Kakashi spent the first week sidestepping around each other warily and Sakura seemed to make a game of picking at Yugito's calm all the while smiling so sweetly you’d never guess she intended to be onerous at all. 

Sasuke just ignored Yugito entirely. 

Naruto alone went out of the way to include the crass and unfriendly Jonin, smiling at her and bounding into her space like she was another one of his precious teammates. He completely ignored the ways that not only his friends but Yugito herself looked at him like he was crazy for his determined ignorance of her unlikability. 

But for all Naruto’s kindness and unflinching geniality, it was not him but Kurama who finally managed to drag Yugito into the clutches of the community growing among the dusty rooms of the Uzushio Mountain Archives.

"If you're such an impressive ninja you should really be helping Sasuke and his damned summons," the Nine-tails had huffed at Yugito after another tense dinner in their second week in the caves. 

"Oh, we wouldn't want to impose!" Sasuke's little cat Mika had exclaimed instantly, while at the same time her summoner had snarled "we don't need any help from _her_." 

Yugito, halfway out the door already, had frozen.

Her head had tilted, gaze growing curious in a way that Gaara knew meant she was caught on some thought like a burr in long fur. 

"You're having trouble with the Nekomata?"

"No trouble!" Mika mewed shrilly as Sasuke grumbled "Mind your own business." 

Kurama cut in again.

"They can't synchronize. The Uchiha brat doesn't know how to read the Nekomata well enough to coordinate with them." 

Yugito's hand had twitched, her dark, slanted eyes studying Sasuke. 

Sasuke wouldn't look at her, just stabbed the empty bowl in front of him with a chopstick like it had offended him personally.

"Training room, tomorrow morning," Yugito had finally said after a few beats. "Matatabi and I will teach you how to actually listen to your new allies."

The rest was… well, history is a little preemptive but it certainly seemed to be the tipping point in the relations between the Kumo Jounin and Team 7.

Seeing Yugito's willingness to help Sasuke, Kakashi had begun gently, intentionally, incorporating her and Gaara into the routine that had developed over Team 7's time in the archive.

Gaara found himself dragged into morning spars and trips to the quaint civilian town nearby and even into washing dishes in the evening. Whereas at first Sakura and Sasuke treated him with suspicion and distrust, before long they were at least comfortable enough to have him in their space, and soon after that they were bumping hips with him and falling asleep on the couch next to him and _smiling_ at him and…

Gaara doesn't know what to do with the strange feeling blooming in his chest at the growing displays of trust.

Yugito meanwhile, was unceremoniously, permanently placed in charge of training Sasuke and his strange cat summons. While she had grumbled about it at first, cursing Kurama and his meddling and bemoaning something along the lines of not being cut out as a Sensei, after being introduced to more of the Nekomata she quickly became dedicated to the task. 

Aside from Mika, who seems to be the anchor summons and main point of contact between Sasuke and his new allies, there is also the large sleepy eyed tabby, Dai, and the smaller energetic black cat Ruri.

Small is… very relative though because Dai is about the size of a horse and Ruri has claws the approximate length of a Kunai. 

Gaara doesn't interact with the feline yokai much and is glad for it. They are strange and clearly very, very dangerous. 

He does enjoy watching Yugito train with the intimidating summons and their new master though. Yugito for all her snarling and complaining and self doubt is a _good_ teacher and her bond with Matatabi makes her a perfect Sensei for Sasuke and the Nekomata.

All things told, forty one days after they came stumbling onto the cold, desolate beaches of Whirlpool, Gaara and Yugito both find themselves feeling… at home. 

Tonight the feeling is stronger than ever. Naruto, bright eyed and warm as he was that first day, has gotten it into his head that the young tenants of the archives should give Yugito and Kakashi a break and that they should do so by stargazing on the mountainside. 

Gaara would try to argue that it's _very_ cold outside of the caves and that the salted winter air of the ocean that wraps around O'Uzu has a tendency to make his poor desert dweller self feel like he's being stripped of even the memory of warmth but…

He's been here long enough now to understand that when Naruto gets an idea in his head like this neither gods nor Jinchuriki can actually convince him to diverge from it. 

On their way up to the mountain surface, Naruto marching in the front of their little collective with a grin and Sakura trailing behind him with her hands tucked in the warmest sweatpants she has, Sasuke steps up beside Gaara determinedly from where he was lagging behind.

Before he's even opened his mouth to ask what the Uchiha needs, Sasuke is tossing a ball of fabric at him. Gaara catches it on instinct. Looking down and the soft wool in his hands he realizes immediately that Sasuke has grabbed the thickest blanket from the couches in the den for him.

He blinks at the other boy in bafflement.

Sasuke tips a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug and grumbles "You get cold easy and the dobe won't wanna go inside for at least a couple hours."

"...thank you." Gaara offers. He hadn't ever really thought that Sasuke paid that much attention to him but…

"Where is Mika?" 

"Taking a few days to go visit her clan. She'll be back soon." 

Gaara nods at the information and, apparently not alone in his cluelessness on how to continue the conversation, walks silently alongside Sasuke until they reach the exit to the mountain above.

The four teenagers quickly make their way to a large jut of flat black stone that rises above the scraggly foliage of O’Uzu’s forests. The rock is not particularly tall but neither are the twisted trees that carpet the slopes of the mountain below it. It is easily high enough to get a good view of the stars from on top of it. 

Gaara quickly realizes that despite the cold, Naruto was wise to demand this excursion.

The stars above Uzushio are unbelievable. The sands of Suna's desert always made its night skies seem hazy and Konoha's constellations were dimmed by the bright lights of the village. But here, perched on an island in the middle of the ocean with no street lamps left to light, there is a veritable sea of stars that spill across the inky blackness above them.

Gaara never even knew that so many stars existed. 

They don't talk much, quiet murmurs only exchanged briefly as they all settle back on the still slightly sun-warmed rock. Gaara pulls the wool blanket tight around his shoulders and sends a small grateful smile to Sasuke for its warmth. A kind of gentle, steadiness lays over them, a web of comradery woven between their easy breaths and silent awe. 

The four runaways sit for nearly an hour in silence, simply existing together, in this moment. 

"You know, I've been thinking." 

Of course, it’s Naruto who finally breaks the silence.

There is a slight heaviness to his voice that Gaara hasn't ever heard from him before, a pause like whatever words sit on his tongue are cumbersome and challenging. Glancing to the side at the other boy, Gaara thinks that hesitancy fits the blonde Jinchuriki about as well as cruelty. 

Which is to say, not at all.

Sakura and Sasuke also turn towards their teammate, nothing as stark as concern on their face but attention clearly drawn. He's obviously broken their silence for some reason. 

"What are we doing here?" Naruto asks carefully, staring up at the stars, his knees tucked close to his chest and his arms folded easily on top of them. 

"Stargazing?" Gaara finds himself offering, mostly seriously but also with a hint of the teasing he's found himself falling into as he grows more comfortable with the three ninjas around him. 

Sasuke snorts in dry amusement and Naruto sends him a smiling eye roll before continuing.

"Well yeah, but I meant more in general. Like, what are the four of us, and Kakashi and Yugito and Kurama and Matatabi and Shukaku _doing_? Why are we here?" 

Gaara exchanges glances with Sakura and Sasuke, before considering the question.

He's really...not sure of the answer. Gaara has been just running for so long, just _surviving_ , that he's never taken the time to think about the future. 

"Well, we're fixing the seal, and we're getting stronger so we can be safe…" Sakura offers carefully. She's watching Naruto like he's a puzzle that she's missing a piece to. 

"And after that?" Naruto doesn't return her gaze, his vision still focused on the glittering stars above.

"I mean there is Orochimaru to worry about…" the pinkette responds but she sounds a little less certain now. 

"What's in that weird brain of yours Dobe?" asks Sasuke. 

Naruto glances his way quickly, a shine to his eyes that rivals the distant lights above them.

"Sakura, you’re right. We all want to be safe and happy, but we also wanna get back at our villages for the way they treated us."

Three nods prompt the golden haired boy to continue.

"But it's more than that even. All of us have seen something that I don't think most people really have. We see how all of this is _broken_." 

His mouth twists as he goes on.

"The Leaf pretends to be this good, honest place but they killed the Uchiha and they left me and Kakashi-sensei all alone and they treat all the Kunoichi real bad and…" he sweeps his hand wide with agitation "it's even bigger than that! Think about it! Everything the villages _are_ is about hurting people! No one can really be a good guy because all they are supposed to do is get better at killing! Kage are picked because they're the strongest! The best fighters! Not because they are the best leaders or diplomats, and so wars happen over and over and more people die and more people want revenge because the people they love are killed and-" he's talking faster now, passion and rage dragging the words off his tongue nearly half formed, "and entire places, entire _villages_ get wiped off the map! Uzushio was once full of life and people! My people! And now it's…" 

His voice fails, words choked off as the youngest Jinchuriki grits his sharp teeth against a furious snarl, one tan hand immediately going to almost subconsciously clench the fabric of his shirt, bearing down on the seal under it.

Sasuke reaches over and grabs Naruto's other hand. He and Sakura exchange quick worried glances over the pained gesture but they don't interrupt. 

After a few beats Naruto speaks again, voice quieter. 

"It's all broken. The Villages and the way they want us to be shinobi just creates a system of pain and killing and hatred. It just goes on and on in a fucked up cycle. Jinchuriki and clans and Kage and _politics_." 

Gaara's breath catches in his throat. There is something to Naruto's voice, something about the way starlight is catching in his hair…

The youngest Jinchuriki turns burning red eyes towards the three dangerous teens around him, looking at each of them in turn. 

"We're going to fix it."

He says it like fact. Like it's something as solid and definite as the sun warmed rock under them or the blood in their veins or the stars that wheel above them.

Gaara doesn't know what to say in response. He still doesn't feel like he belongs here, among these beacons, these glowing, impossible children. He's thirteen! He still barely knows how to make friends, let alone how to _change_ the broken, cruel path of the Great Elemental nations and yet-

"Okay." Says Sasuke. Gaara whips his head to the side, staring in shock. The Uchiha can't possibly be including him among that certainty. He's not one of them- 

"We'll all help you change it."

Sasuke says it with as much assurance as Naruto had. No room for doubt or fear or Gaara's utter confusion at how these other children can follow the blonde with such unapologetic confidence. Follow him into a _war_ , because that's what Naruto is talking about and-

"What does that change look like?" Sakura asks, more curious than doubtful and Gaara hears again the way her thoughts are already bounding ahead, a thousand miles beyond them. 

Just like Sasuke, she's ready to leap the moment Naruto points at the cliff's edge.

Naruto shrugs, his rage disappearing as quickly as it arrived as he stares up at Uzushio's brilliant stars with a grin, sharp and joyful. 

"I've got no idea what any actual steps are. Everything's _fucked_ and there are a lot of bastards who want it to stay that way. But I know we can do it. Between us and Kurama and the other Tailed Beasts and Kakashi-sensei and Yugito-ane…"

He rocks side to side, eyes still cast towards some height, some perfect world that Gaara can't even begin to see yet.

Gaara wants to ask how Naruto can know that, how any of Konoha's fallen Genin can know or trust _any of this_. Don't they understand that for people like them the villages will have no mercy, that hope for _anything_ more than to be invisible is just signing up for the blood of those you love on _your hands_ and-

"Hey." Naruto leans to bump a shoulder against his and Gaara's dark, spiraling thoughts freeze. 

A salamander caught in gentle hands. 

"It'll be okay. You haven't really seen what we can do yet. Together." He explains, gesturing at Sakura and Sasuke beside him.

From anyone else it would be bragging, but Gaara looks at Sasuke, set at Naruto's side and unflinching, at Sakura, already so clearly scheming and at Naruto, smiling and gentle and good and promising to remake the world for what it's done to all of them.

Gaara thinks of what they've already accomplished. He thinks of the odds all three of them overcame to be here now…

Of the odds _he_ overcame to be here.

"Okay." He agrees quietly and bumps his shoulder awkwardly back into Naruto. 

"We'll have to use Orochimaru's resources." Sakura is saying, distant and thoughtful and _focused_ in a way that Gaara finds a little terrifying.

"Two heads, one snake." Sasuke grumbles in response and then growls "and all this comes after we fix your seal, idiot." 

Sakura nods in agreement and says "I'm getting farther on the Eight Trigrams every day but I haven't had a breakthrough yet, so, no revolutions at least for the next three months." 

Naruto laughs at both their seriousness and Gaara finds, incredibly, that he's smiling too.

If he had an ounce of self preservation he'd be _running_ but…

"They really are something," Shukaku murmurs into his mind, his own Awe/Uncertainty/Hope twinning with the Tailed-beasts'. 

"Do you think they can… _we can_ actually…" 

Gaara doesn't even know how to put it into words.

Shukaku's sense of wonder sharpens, grows rough and mean and feral. His teeth are long and gleaming in the smile he sends Gaara.

"I do. And my siblings and I will help too. The damn Villages have kept all of us in chains long enough and besides, Kurama wouldn't let that kit of his run into the world’s teeth without the firepower _we_ can bring behind him."

"Neither would I," Gaara says and is surprised to find he means it.

Maybe he understands Sakura and Sasuke's immediate trust more than he thought because… it's not like they know this is any more possible than Gaara but…

He looks at Naruto again from the corner of his eyes. He remembers the other boy in the Apothecary, golden and grinning and not backing down or apologizing even in the face of Gaara's screaming rage. 

Gaara would follow him into hell with his eyes closed. 

But just to be sure…

"So we aren't just going to hide here until everyone maybe forgets about us or decides to leave us alone?" Gaara asks, one part hopeful, two parts sarcastic.

All three of the other teens turn to look at him with blank confusion, as if the words don't compute.

"Hide?" Sasuke asks with a wrinkle to his nose like he's smelled something particularly disgusting.

"Forget about us?" Sakura's incredulity seems more personally offended than even strategically disbelieving. 

Naruto, silent a few beats longer than his team, bursts into laughter. He loops an arm around Gaara's neck and pulls the slight boy tighter against his side.

"Gaara, you're hilarious." 

Gaara sniffs and decides against telling the other Jinchuriki he was at least a little serious.

"No, you weren't," Shukaku corrects him proudly. "We both know you got tired of hiding a long time ago." 

Sasuke is rolling his eyes at the loud cackles still spilling from Naruto's lips and Sakura has relaxed back against that warm rock, lids slipping closed as a small peaceful smile tugs across her cheeks. Here on this cold mountain with the stars spilled across the sky above them, Gaara finds that he feels the most at home he's felt in his entire life.

And it has nothing to do with Uzushio itself or even the stars that spin above it. 

"You're right" he tells Shukaku, "I am tired of hiding I guess."

Shukaku rumbles a purr of amused contentment "but not of making them all laugh," he finishes and Gaara feels his peace intertwine with the giant spirits, emotions flowing between them as easily as sand swirling in the wind. 

"Well," Naruto exclaims, releasing Gaara to stretch his arms towards the sky in a stretch and then hopping to his feet, "we better head back in now so we can tell Kakashi-sensei and Yugito-ane about the plan. Oh! And so we can say hi!"

Sakura, still relaxing, furrows her brow and opens one jade eye, "Say hi? To who?" 

"The newest member of the family, obviously!" Naruto grins in response before he hops neatly down from the rock and heads for the hidden entrance nearby.

"What the fuck is he-" Sasuke starts, eyes narrowing as they follow the blondes back.

"I'm not sure?" Sakura interrupts him, sitting up to track their teammate as well.

Gaara is confused too, but then he recognizes the building thrum in his bones for what it is, the awareness that gathers at the base of his spine and trills like a high, sweet note plucked on one of nine strings.

"Oh!" He says, pleasantly surprised, slightly anxious.

Sakura and Sasuke look at him expectantly.

"Another Jinchuriki just arrived." He explains and without waiting for their response, he jumps off the rock and follows Naruto. 

~

Kakashi and Yugito have been drinking for...a while now. With the pups entertaining themselves they've both agreed that they may as well take the time to _relax_ for a couple of hours. 

Drinking with the Wildcat of Kumo is not something that he would have even considered only a few weeks ago but Kakashi has grown recently comfortable with the fact that now his entire world has a tendency to shift on its axis bi-monthly or so. 

No reason to get picky about the specifics anymore. 

It's an old bottle of sake that the two Jonin are savoring, a payment offered by one of the elderly civilians in Gyson for Kakashi tracking down a goat that had wandered from the man's herd.

It is by no means the caliber of mission Hound once completed on the regular but it's a good, strong bottle and Kakashi finds that he doesn't hate the company he shares it with either.

Yugito is ...strange. 

She's callous and mean, quick to bite out an insult or threat, and hesitant to show anything more vulnerable than the sharpness of her clawed fingertips. However, at the same time, she's strangely gentle with the kids, especially Gaara and, to Kakashi's surprise, Sasuke.

She reminds Kakashi of Kushina in a lot of ways, a comparison that feels almost sacrilegious but…

Short, hair-trigger temper, unapologetically violent, Jinchuriki, mouth like a sailor but a heart of gold underneath, could probably break Kakashi over her knee like a stick…

Yeah, he can't help the nostalgia. 

Yugito breaks him from his considerations with a snarl.

"Stop looking at me like that Wolf. I feel like you're trying to untangle my intestines with your eyes or some shit." 

"That's...a very violent metaphor." Kakashi offers even if he can't help the small honest smile that tugs across his bare face.

He's not wearing his mask. He’d gotten used to going without it while at home in the archives before Yugito and Gaara arrived and while it was _extremely_ unsettling to bare his face to the other Jonin at first, now it barely registers. 

Yugito shrugs at him. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a violent person." 

Kakashi laughs shortly and tips his chipped Sake glass towards her in a gesture that communicates "same here".

They sat in companionable silence for several long beats. 

Eventually Yugito, hesitant where she'd normally be unapologetic, taps one of her clawed fingers against her left cheek and asks.

"So, what's the story behind the scar and the eye?"

Ah, so the woman has Kushina's sense of boundaries too, Kakashi thinks wryly.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard at least some rumor…" Kakashi murmurs, shocked at himself that he's not shutting this line of questioning down _immediately_.

Hound would never have considered sharing the most vulnerable, broken part of his soul like this. He wouldn't have even considered sharing a drink with a foreign Jonin unless there was poison in their cup. But Wolf doesn't have many allies at the moment and Yugito is kind to his kids and…

And he finds that maybe, he wants to talk about it. 

Yugito shrugs "I know bits and pieces, some that I think are more propaganda than truth. You know, friend-killer and all that." 

Even now Kakashi stiffens at the nickname and he finds his hand tracing the edges of his scar, the soft flutter of his closed eyelid.

"No, that's not inaccurate in this case." 

He can see Yugito's dark, discerning eyes studying his profile. 

"I'll judge that for myself I think, if you'll share the story with me." She says into the strange space between them and Kakashi nearly flinches again.

He's not used to her gentleness being directed at _him_. He really doesn't know how to even begin building a defense against it. 

So he doesn't.

He tells her. 

It's not a long story. Kakashi isn't one for embellishment and is even less one for twisting the knife, even in himself, even if he deserves it.

When he's finally done Yugito is quiet. Without words she reaches forward and refills his empty sake cup.

The silence stretches.

Kakashi isn't sure if he wants her to say nothing at all or tell him that she always knew he was a monster but…

"You loved him." She tells the room. 

She doesn't ask. Kakashi is glad because he doesn't want to know if he would have lied if she had.

He shrugs, offers a smile more bitter than the alcohol they share.

"I got him killed." 

"Doesn't mean you didn't love him" the Jinchuriki offers dully and then she takes a swig directly from the bottle. 

Yugito lowers the sake and breaths out harshly, wiping her hand over her mouth in a way that speaks to the burn of the old liquor.

"When I was 16 I got my partner killed on a mission." 

Kakashi turns to study her this time. She's not meeting his eyes, instead studying the glint of her deadly claws against the glass bottle. 

"I was being reckless. Trying to get _myself_ killed probably and instead Aika…" 

She trails off, looking a little lost and a lot angry with herself. Weakness for weakness she doesn't say. Shame for shame.

Kakashi still understands. 

"Partner or…"

"Partner." She repeats firmly and the words are trying to say "less important" but her true meaning leaks out from the stiff edges of her mouth and the nearly imperceptible tremble of her hands.

She clenches them into a fist furiously.

Ah, another thing that makes them the same, Kakashi thinks.

He looks up to the stone ceiling above them and imagines the pups somewhere above them. They are probably curled together, probably laughing, probably plotting something, definitely happy and alive and… worth it. 

All four of them. 

Worth all of it. 

Obito would have loved them, would have done better by them than Kakashi can.

Rin too, and Kushina and Minato and...

Yugito is still staring into the middle distance, the ghosts of her own past haunting her features just like Kakashi's are.

Banishing the cruel whispers in his mind he leans over toward her, ignoring the defensive stiffness that ratchets up her spine at not just his proximity but at being caught in her misery. Kakashi clinks his cup against her bottle and tosses the sake back.

"Here's to atonement." 

He smirks at her instant shock, considers teasing her that she hadn't yet realized that they were doing this for the same reasons. He decides against it since he's not looking to be tackled right now.

The smile that slashes across Yugito's face in response is wide and ugly and sharp like the wildcat she is. 

"Here's to second chances." 

Kakashi nods in agreement. What a strange way to make a friend, he thinks. 

"Excuse me? I don't mean to interrupt but..." 

In any other setting, the voice that echoes into the amiable atmosphere in the den would be incredibly unobtrusive. It's a pleasant and gentle tenor, almost melodic in its softness. The big problem is that the voice echoes from _behind_ Yugito and him and it's _not one Kakashi recognizes_ which is, in fact, fairly obtrusive.

Because someone he doesn't know is in his home. 

The haze of alcohol and blooming comradery is gone from Kakashi's mind instantly. Feral instincts howl to life at the threat that has somehow appeared at their back. Leaping to his feet Kakashi spins and sends a Kunai flying towards the figure in the doorway without a thought. 

Yugito, ever his mirror image, does the same at his side, killing intent radiating from her in a scorching wave and making his own hackles rise further.

The twin Kunai fly true. The pretty, dark haired man in their path raises a shocked eyebrow at their approach.

His fingers, still raised in an awkward wave, flex with adrenaline and Kakashi watches in confusion as the young man puffs out a steady breath and two perfect pearlescent bubbles bloom into existence. They swallow both of the Kunai cleanly.

The intruder twitches his fingers again and there is a loud pop and then a sizzling sound and the two deadly streaks of metal _dissolve_ in midair.

The plop of the melted gloop that was once two Kunai hitting the den floor is… anticlimactic. 

Kakashi stares. 

So does Yugito. 

The stranger smiles slightly awkwardly.

"My apologies again for the intrusion…" he points a pale hand behind him down the tunnel, "the backdoor was open?"

The young man who just neatly erased two deadly weapons steps a little further into the golden light of the den. He looks no older than 20 with black hair hanging obscuring half of his delicate featured face, eyes a dark golden. A slightly dirty and bloodstained, though somehow still elegant sky blue kimono hangs off his pale shoulders. Kakashi can see a wrap of bandages around his waist, and across his chest.

As seems to be Kakashi's lot in life in these things, he recognizes the stranger only now that he's tried to kill him.

Yugito is in the same boat as she leans forward, clawed hands digging into the back or the couch.

"Utakata?!" 

The teenage Jinchuriki of the Six-tails gives another delicate wave of his fingers and a careful but genuine smile. 

"Hello Yugito, Wolf, … Sorry it took me so long." 

Kakashi looks from the newest stray to have appeared among his walls, to Yugito, still staring, still uselessly speechless. 

He sighs. 

"Utakata, huh. You're with the Rokubi?" 

He receives a delicate nod from the young man as an answer.

"You ran away from your village because they sucked?"

Another nod.

"And you're not here to kill us all in our sleep right?"

Utakata's face twists in confusion this time. 

"No, I… Saiken told me this is where all the Jinchuriki with nowhere else are supposed to come now?" 

Obito always used to say that Kakashi was an idiot but even _he_ knows a pattern when it insists on repeatedly showing up at his front door.

"That sure seems to be the case," he agrees wearily. Then, "I'll put the damn kettle on I guess," and turns to begin making his way to the rapidly becoming under-sized kitchenette. 

He catches the joyful laugh of Matatabi breaking the tension as the tailed beast yowls, "Saiken! You made it!" and resists the urge to drag a hand over his face. 

Maybe if I asked, the universe would give me a fucking break, Kakashi thinks sardonically.

He scoffs to himself as more excited chatter fills his ears, the pups and Gaara apparently having arrived to greet their new guest as well.

What a silly thought. 

When has the universe _ever_ deemed to give Kakashi a break, and honestly, at this point why would he want one? 

Even for all the madness this life has wrought, Kakashi thinks that when he compares where he started so few months ago to where he is now, if there is any other version of this life that exists, he wouldn’t trade it for the one he has now for anything. 

Something crashes loudly to the ground in the den behind him and the silver haired Jonin hears Naruto shout, “oops!” not sounding even a bit apologetic. 

The man once called Hound, once called friend-killer, now called Wolf and Sensei, rolls his eyes toward the cave ceiling. He wouldn’t take any other version of his life, _even one_ that was just the tiniest bit peaceful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem ahem, Hello my darling readers! I am, once again, posting significantly early because the American Political System is dealing notable psychic damage to me personally and I am _avoiding it_!
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is basically your thesis statement of what this fic is gonna be about in the long term. The villages are fucked up, the kids ain’t having it, and something is gonna be _done about it_. My guess is, (oh god I’m absolutely jinxing it by trying to predict this) that we are a little less than a fourth of the way through the story.
> 
> Also, I’m going to be taking a hiatus for a bit from this fic. Not because I’m tired of it or wanna write other stuff or anything, but because when I started Hellbent I started with more than 30,000 words already written and ready to post. I’m gonna take some time to get ahead like that again because I know for a fact that I can tell the story better that way and as much as I love being able to post every single week, I love Hellbent even more and I want it to live up completely to the version I have in my head. 
> 
> All this goes to say, no weekly updates for a little bit my friends, but fear not, I will 100% absolutely return with your regular dose of "what nonsense is Lucky going to concoct now??". 
> 
> Will miss you all in the meantime!! Please, please feel free to come chat with me on tumblr at yesiamanerd and also,  
> ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Update; New chapter soon! Expect Chapter 25 by February the 18th!
> 
> Update 2.0; okay the state I live in is having a minor natural disaster so I haven't had regular power or internet connection in several days so update is SLIGHTLY postponed. But soon I promise!! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧


	25. Changing, Falling, Fading

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can feel the shifting in my bones. Enclosed are the senses so unknown. I've been changing, falling, fading. There's demons at the door patiently waiting, but I wasn't composed of broken bones or demon limbs. So please watch over me and be the light to carry me. 
> 
> \- Demon Limbs (Acoustic), PVRIS

It happens three days before Sakura's birthday. 

They're cleaning up from dinner. Naruto and Gaara are on dish duty tonight, chatting quietly and occasionally whispering about something that Kakashi can't make out.

He would be more worried about it, Naruto and secrets are never a good combination in his book after all, but Gaara is a good, level-headed child and so Kakashi isn't _too_ concerned.

Yugito is sprawled next to him in one of the mismatched kitchen chairs, her feet up on the table as she and Utakata argue. The two Jinchuriki seem to have fallen into the strangest habit of butting heads over the most random nonsense. Watching them bicker has quickly become one of Kakashi's favorite pastimes. Between Utakata's overwhelmingly mild demeanor and Yugito's consistently hot-headed one, the lighthearted arguments never fail to make him smile. 

Tonight's disagreement revolves, apparently, around whether Kiri or Kumo had more annoying weather. It’s not something he would ever expect to be argument worthy but the two Jinchuriki are finding plenty of ammunition in the topic it seemed. 

Kakashi finds that the way that Yugito's smile is all genuine playful mirth with no cruel twist, and the way that Utakata's eyes are focused and annoyed without skittering as if he's waiting to duck a blow… well strange arguments or not Kakashi likes the ease with which they exist in this moment.

Sasuke is feeding the scraps leftover from the baked salmon they'd had for dinner to Mika and Sakura sits next to him, carefully sketching out a segment of a seal in her newest notebook. 

They've both been working harder than ever. Kakashi almost wants to tell them to take a break, they are still only thirteen for god’s sake but, before their youth, they are Shinobi. Kakashi knows better than most that for people like them, death doesn't care how young you are. 

Besides, even if he tried to get them to relax they wouldn't listen to him anyway. Sasuke has a half dozen Nekomata that he now trains with regularly and the general proficiency of your average frontline medic. Meanwhile, Sakura's fuinjutsu is quickly exceeding even the thickest, most utterly incomprehensible scrolls that the Archives can offer.

Kakashi knows she's working on something big. Something even bigger than just trying to solve the puzzle of the Eight Trigrams or complete her Living Memorium seal.

She won't tell him what it is. Kakashi trusts her though so he doesn't push. 

All and all, it's a normal evening. Quiet. Relaxing.

This peace has been the norm for the Uzushio Renegades for nearly three months. 

In some ways, Kakashi can't believe their luck. At least four of the most powerful militaries in the world are looking for them, not to mention any number of unsavory characters who are after power or revenge or just blood. All Team 7 and the Jinchuriki have going for them is the help of one Chunin school teacher, the resources of a long destroyed village, a lot of luck and… well the combined power of four of the most powerful spirits in the world he supposes. 

Maybe it's not so unreasonable that they haven't been found yet.

Iruka is a hell of a Chunin after all.

Kakashi smiles to himself as he looks around the crowded kitchen. 

They've all fallen into an easy routine. Training to stay strong, occasionally taking simple "missions" to help out in Gyson and earn cash or other necessary goods, and laying low around the archives while they prepare for what comes next.

Kakashi would expect himself to be getting fidgety, to feel like a dog tugging on the end of his leash but the break is nice. He's relaxed. Even knowing that the future waiting for him and his kids is centered around the impossible task of taking on the great elemental nations, for the first time in his life he is at peace. 

Naruto had explained his new dream to Yugito and him the night Utakata arrived. "Breaking the cycle of hate" the youngest jinchuriki had called it then, red eyes lit as if from within and determination coming off him in waves. 

"Fucking shit up on an international scale" Yugito had deemed it, laughing as she reached to ruffle Naruto's blonde hair, promising to join them in their insane task. 

Kakashi had experienced a wave of deja vu when Naruto had turned those burning eyes to him. For a moment he'd been back in that dusty, empty house on the Uchiha compound so many months ago. 

"Sensei?" the blonde had asked.

"It's like I said before," Kakashi was completely unable to keep the smile off his face "We're a team. I go where you go." 

The armful of cheering Jinchuriki he'd received in response is something that Kakashi doesn't think he'll ever get used to or tired of.

It's been three months since then and Kakashi still has no idea what, "break the cycle" looks like. He thinks he has a better grasp on "fuck shit up" just based on who he is as a person but still…

The seven of them who now call the Archives home have other things they are worried about first so details can be handled down the road.

For now, Kakashi can focus on the peace he feels when he looks around the crowded kitchen at his…

His friends. 

Yugito leans forward and flicks Utakata in the forehead with a grin and Sasuke peers over Sakura's shoulder to look at her notebook and Naruto splashes water onto Gaara's shirt with a mean grin.

Maybe, more than his friends, Kakashi thinks with a warm, soft curling feeling in his chest.

Maybe for the first time since his father's death Kakashi can let himself have a _family_ again. 

Of course, it's his lot that such a thought comes right before everything goes to shit.

All four Jinchuriki suddenly stiffen. Yugito's feet clatter down from the tabletop and Utakata's playful annoyance vanishes from his face. 

Kakashi doesn't know what's wrong, doesn't see any threat but Yugito's going pale and-

Something heavy hits the ground behind Kakashi's back and Gaara _gasps_ , his normally calm voice terrified as he chokes out "Naruto!"

Kakashi whirls. The feeling of deja vu returns, stark, unwelcome, and terrifying.

Naruto is on the ground. Soap suds still cling to his hands. His eyes are wide open, the scarlet of his pupils bright and feverish.

The entire room lurches into motion. Gaara's legs give out from under him and he sinks to the ground next to Naruto's unmoving form, breath panting and short. 

Seeing this Yugito tries to rise from the table, panic white-hot on her face, but as she goes to stand her knees give out and she falls forward, one clawed hand crashing to the table to keep her from collapsing just like the younger Jinchuriki have.

Utakata isn’t much better off. The already pale young man's face is white as a sheet of paper and he clenches his eyes shut against _some_ phantom pain. 

Team 7 flies into motion. 

Sasuke throws himself from the chair and onto the ground by Naruto. As his hands make contact with the stone of the kitchen floor there are four massive puffs of smoke. All of the Nekomata that appear are familiar to Kakashi already. These are Sasuke's hard hitters, his front line as Yugito calls them. 

There is Ruri, sleek and black as night, Dai, a tabby the size of a horse with long fur and longer claws, Reiji, Ruri's twin brother, smaller, faster, and quieter than his sister, and Yugi, the largest of the four, with fur as white as snow and eyes so blue they practically glow. 

All four of the cats have their claws already out as they hit the ground and their sharp eyes flicker about the kitchen, searching for threats, twin tails swishing with agitation. 

"Sasuke?" Ruri demands, voice low and drawn as if holding back a hiss. 

"You answer to Sakura right now" Sasuke growls out, sharingan eyes already sweeping over Naruto as he presses steady fingers against the catatonic Jinchuriki's throat, measuring his pulse.

All four Nekomata turn to the pinkette without argument. 

Sakura had moved at the same time as Sasuke. She's now posted at the door that leads from the kitchen into the rest of the caves, her face focused and drawn as she listens intently. 

She doesn't look at Sasuke, doesn't question his decision to pass his summons off to her. 

"Ruri, Dai, go check the main entrance for intruders. Reiji the eastern upper entrance. Yugi stay here and be ready to help Sasuke if he needs extra chakra to heal Naruto."

The yokai move without argument. Ruri and Dai streak from the room, nearly faster than the eyes can follow and Reiji slips into the dark shadows under the table and vanishes, using the shadow striding ability that makes him one of Sasuke's most dangerous summons. 

Caves secured for now Sakura moves from the door to Sasuke and Naruto. 

Gaara is still conscious but he's breathing heavily and his eyes are squeezed tightly shut against some phantom pain. Yugito and Utakata seem no better, the former trying to stand again and failing, her legs too weak to support her. Kakashi moves instantly, catching the other Jonins trembling arm and helping her back into her seat. 

"Yugito, what's going on?" he snaps.

Wolf doesn't know if she can speak but something is wrong and he needs to know what it is to be able to actually _do anything_.

Yugito grits her teeth, snarling low in her throat as her eyes flicker back and forth between their normal black to the gold of Matatabi's presence. 

"Something's wrong with one of the other Jinchuriki. The connection is translating pain."

Utakata, hands clenching and unclenching on the worn wood tabletop as his own eyes flare grey to white and back, gasps out "It's Chomei and Fuu."

This information doesn't help Wolf at _all_.

He looks over to his kids. Sasuke's hands are glowing steadily, one over Naruto's heart and one over the Eight Trigrams.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi demands.

"He's okay" The medic answers after a few tense beats, "not good, his blood pressure is way too high and so is his core temperature but I'm stabilizing his pulse and taking some of the strain off his heart."

Kakashi nods shortly. Sakura has moved to check on Gaara, offering the red-haired boy her hand to squeeze as he shakes. 

They wait. 

It takes nearly ten minutes for the fit to subside. 

Gaara relaxes first. His death grip on Sakura's hand loosens bit by bit and his eyes open, pale and pupil-less but clear. Yugito is next. The Two-tail Jinchuriki lurches from the table the moment her legs are able to support her and goes to crouch at Gaara's side.

Utakata takes around a minute after that to recover. Kakashi rests a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder, knowing to move slowly as he does so that the shaken teen sees him coming. 

Naruto is last. When his red, bleary eyes finally lose that glassy sheen and his breaths even out, Kakashi slumps in relief. 

Mika, who had been crouched on Sasuke's shoulder this entire time, her tails wrapped around his upper arm groundingly, murmurs "I'll go tell the others that it's okay now."

Sasuke gives a hum of ascent, focus still entirely centered on the barely conscious Naruto. In his stead, Sakura orders "tell them to finish their circuit, please. I want to make sure this wasn't an attack. Yugi, go with her." 

Mika and Yugi both nod and then dart from the room on swift and silent paws. If Kakashi wasn't still riding a kunai's edge of terror he'd find it more amusing to watch the massive white cat that barely fits through the kitchen doorway follow in Mika's tiny pawprints. 

Quiet is left in the nekomata’s wake as the seven members of the Uzushio renegades stare at each other. Naruto has managed to push himself into a halfway upright position with shaking arms, Sasuke's steady hand on his back supporting him the entire way. Kakashi catalogs the pale sheen of his students' normally warm, tan skin and the feverish glazed look to his eyes. Sasuke's movements are calm but the boy has never been good at hiding his emotions and Kakashi can read the fear in his face as easily as he can Naruto's pain. This attack was worse than previous times, he realizes. 

"Let's move to the den" Kakashi finally says, "I think we need to have a conversation." 

Everyone goes without argument. 

Seeing that Sasuke isn't going to leave Naruto's side anytime soon, Sakura steps to help Utakata stand on still-trembling legs. 

Gaara seems to have recovered the most out of all the Jinchuriki and though Yugito has a guarding arm around his shoulders he is the one supporting her more than anything else.

All seven of the current tenants of the mountain archive move to settle onto the various couches that clutter the den. Sakura leads Utakata to the ratty blue armchair that the older teen seems to favor and then joins Sasuke in sandwiching a bleary Naruto on the couch nearby. Yugito, face not yet regained it's normal pallor seems too agitated to sit and instead stands next to the couch mirroring Kakashi's kids, her clawed fingers tapping restlessly at her arm. 

Gaara sighs and sits on the loveseat right next to his unofficial guardian, pale eyes unabashedly worried.

Kakashi looks over each of them in turn. Fear does not sit easily on any of their shoulders. 

All six of them look to him. Kakashi takes a deep breath. 

"Okay. What do we know?" 

Sakura, whip-smart, always thinking, always ready for the worst, speaks first.

"Something happened that affected all the Jinchuriki. Naruto was impacted the most severely because his seal is already damaged, I think, but also maybe because he has the most tails." 

Kakashi raises an eyebrow at her, silently asking for her to expand on the point.

Yugito interjects instead. 

"Sakura is right. We all got hit equally but Gaara got better first, then me, then Utakata, then Naruto. One, two, six, nine." 

Frowning, Kakashi asks, "why would more tails make the recovery slower though, and for that matter, what was it that you all were recovering from. What _happened_?" 

The four Jinchuriki exchange looks with one another.

"Something bad is going on with one of the other Jinchuriki. Fuu and her bijuu, Chomei, from what we can tell." 

Utakata still sounds shaky as he explains, but the tremble is fading from his limbs as he tucks his legs under him, curling in to make himself smaller as he often seems to when stressed.

"How do you know that something is wrong with Fuu and why does that hurt the rest of you?" 

Three months ago Kakashi is certain that Sasuke would have shouted the question, maybe threatened violence if answers weren't offered. Now, however, the Uchiha barely glances at the rest of the room, his dark eyes steady on Naruto as he keeps a hold of the other boy’s pulse. All medics must be cool under pressure Kakashi thinks, remarkably proud as he watches his student work. 

Even with the shitty, unnerving circumstances, seeing Sakura and Sasuke react to danger not like scared children, or even like Genin, but like fully trained shinobi has his heart warming in his chest. 

Utakata considers his question around a thoughtful hum. The dark-haired nineteen year old taps, taps, taps, his pipe nervously against the arm of his chair, and his eyes flick from exit to exit as he thinks. 

The Six-tails jinchuriki may be able to melt kunai, steel, bone, as easily as breathing out, but Kakashi decided long ago that if Utakata hadn't already killed the abusive piece of shit that called himself his Sensei, than Wolf may have had to go hunting. 

Finally settling on an answer Utakata explains, "We've mentioned it before but the more time we spend together here in the same place, the more we Jinchuriki seem to be developing a...connection of some sort. It's like…" he pauses in consideration.

"A shared line of sight and a view of the same horizon " Gaara offers quietly from where he sits bowlegged on the couch. 

"A unified understanding of pain" Yugito corrects, pausing the tap of her claws to place a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"A web of threads, vibrating with our individual voices and longings" Utakata's melodious voice adds. 

"A bond." 

All of them turn as one to look at Naruto, pale and wane and still smiling crookedly at them as he pushes himself to sit fully upright on the couch. 

"And someone who shares that bond, another Jinchuriki, is hurting so it hurts all of you as well?" Kakashi clarifies. 

"Ehhhhhh" answers Naruto, holding a hand and tilting it side to side in a so-so motion.

"It's less that she's hurting and more that she's hurting and not fighting it" Yugito moves to begin pacing short strides at the opposite side of the den from Kakashi. 

"Saiken was screaming for help" Utakata murmurs, seeming to take up even less room as he recollects, "Fuu was hurting and Saiken was forced the connection wider to call for us, so we got not just the call for help but all of Fuu's pain as well." 

The other three Jinchuriki nod in various agreements.

"Well shit." Says Kakashi, knowing it's an understatement and still unable to conjure anything better to say, "has it always been that way for you Jinchiriki?" 

Instantly all four Jinchuriki shake their head in various disagreements.

"The only time I've ever felt pain like that before" Yugito grates out, "is less than a month before you Konoha nin skipped town. I'm fairly certain it was because…" she falters. Her face twists towards grief that she seems almost startled by.

"When Isobu disappeared" Gaara finishes for her quietly.

Kakashi blinks, he doesn't know who that is but he's smart enough to connect the conversational strings at play here.

"Is that another one of the Tailed Beasts? And this must have been the same time that Naruto collapsed while we were still at the Hatake compound. He said something about someone disappearing, no, being _gone_ then." 

Nodding in agreement Naruto says “yeah, in the same way that I can feel Gaara and Shukaku and Yugito and Matatabi and Utakata and Saiken and all the rest of the Junchuriki and Tailed Beasts too, I can feel where two of ‘em are missing.”

“Missing.” repeats Kakashi, “I’m really not a fan of the idea of two of the most powerful spirits in the world simply being _missing_ ”

Naruto shrugs and Yugito scoffs. 

“So we add it to the list of all the other impossible shit we have to do,” the Two-tails Jinchuriki bites out.

"And what about the Eight Trigrams?" Demands Sasuke, still calm, still unflinching, but always focused on what matters to him above all else. 

Even if Team 7 hadn't defected, Kakashi is certain that the youngest Uchiha would never have made a good Konoha shinobi. Even with all his genius, all his drive, Sasuke's eyes only ever focused selfishly on his own goals. 

Once that goal was killing Itachi, but now…

Kakashi watches as Naruto suppresses a flinch of pain as the Eight Trigrams pulses with sickly energy again. Sasuke instantly scoots closer to the blonde, thigh to thigh with the other boy as he raises a glowing green hand to sweep over Naruto's forehead, taking his pain as his eyes sweep worriedly over the blonde’s face.

Well, now Sasuke's goals seem fairly aligned with Kakashi's own, to keep his precious people safe.

Sakura, who has pulled out one of her endless notebooks and is rapidly reading over it with a furrowed brow answers her teammate’s question.

"I think this is still in the same vein as all of the other seal associated fainting spells-" 

"Please don't call them that, it makes me sound so _lame_ " Naruto whines from under the glowing green palm Sasuke is pressing against his forehead. 

"Shush." Sakura tells him at the same time that Sasuke hisses "dobe." 

A smile fights across both of their faces at their blonde teammates whining and Kakashi, an expert in watching how the three of them play off each other after all this time, doesn't miss the way that Naruto grins at that. 

Wolf isn't certain if his youngest student always understood the effect that his foolish, lighthearted nature had on his far more serious teammates, but he certainly has come to recognize it over the recent months. 

If Sakura is on track as a strategist and Sasuke as a healer, Kakakshi suddenly realizes that Naruto is quickly shaping up to be a rather effective if unorthodox diplomat. 

And tank. 

And ninjutsu expert. 

These kids, Wolf thinks, fighting the urge to tug at his own white hair in exasperation, picking just _one_ thing to be geniuses at was apparently far too much to ask. No, they each had to grab a handful of skills and run for it, dragging him along in their wake.

“What can we do to help Fuu?” Naruto asks the room at large as his teammates continue to fuss over him.

Count on Naruto to be the one worrying about someone else even though he is still barely recovered from the fit. 

Yugito, finally calmed enough to sit, drops into the chair at Gaara’s side.

“Well he’s still much harder to read than you three but maybe we could ask....”

Utakata frowns, “Do we even know that he’d be on our side? Last I heard he hasn’t even really been a part of his village in years. He may not want anything to do with us.” 

Batting Sasuke’s hands away from his face with good-natured irritation Naruto answers brightly “No, I think he’ll help. I’ll get Kurama to talk to Kokuo and see if he can get to Waterfall quickly.”

“Who is this about?” Kakashi finally asks. 

“Han, Jinchuriki of the Gobi.” all four Jinchuriki in the room say at the exact same time. Silence reigns immediately after as they blink at each other in shock. 

Looking around the room at the baffled metahumans, Sakura announces, “You know this Tailed Beast telepathy thing is a useful trick, but it’s a little freaky and more importantly it could become a serious weakness if anyone who wanted to hurt us found out about it.”

Kakashi frowns. He hadn’t considered that the connection could be a weakness. He’d been pretty stuck on the ‘freaky’ part of it still. 

“So we hope no one figures it out and we burn the bridge as we come to it if they do” Naruto answers with a shrug. 

“And when it does happen again and the Eight Trigrams sends you into cardiac arrest, what do we do then?” Sasuke demands, voice strained. 

Naruto leans, bumps a comforting shoulder against the other boys and says quietly, gently, fondly “scaredy-cat”

Sakura holding her fuinjutsu notebook in tight, determined fingers answers, “I have a plan. I’ll double down on unraveling the seal over the next couple of weeks and if I can’t finish it in that time I have a backup idea to get it figured out before the month is up.”

“See teme! Sakura’s got it!” Naruto tilts backward to lay halfway in Sakura’s lap, grinning up at her, “I’m in the best ink-stained, fuinjutsu nerd hands in the whole of Uzushio!” 

Sakura smiles down at him fondly “Not a nerd, idiot.” she says.

“Not an idiot, nerd” Naruto chirps back and both of them laugh. 

“We are the only ones in Uzushio” grumbles Sasuke in annoyance. Naruto just responds to the raven’s pouting with a loud raspberry sound and when that doesn't sufficiently wipe the frown off of the other boy’s face, Naruto wraps his legs around Sasuke’s waist and tumbles him off the couch and onto the carpeted floor. 

Things devolve from there as Sasuke drags Naruto off the couch after him to wrestle the boy to the ground in revenge. 

Kakashi rubs at the bridge of his nose. Well, if they have to play a waiting game at least they can do so while watching Sasuke and Naruto try and pin each other to the ground like snapping puppies. 

Kakashi just hopes that they can find a solution quickly enough because if something happens to this Fuu person again or another Jinchuriki for that matter, before they can repair the eight trigrams and Naruto has another fit…

He looks at the white-knuckled grip that Sakura has on her notebook, at the careful way Sasuke is handling Naruto even as they play fight. Kakashi isn’t the only member of Team 7 who is worried. 

They have work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dearest, darling readers! Guess who’s back, baby!
> 
> I missed you all bunches but let me tell you, between broken down cars, Covid, and a snowpocalypse, this was a much needed break and I have a _lot_ written. 
> 
> I’m ready and hyped to hit the ground running again! We’ll be going back to weekly posting again with updates on Thursdays. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It’s not my favorite but definitely lays some important groundwork for what we have coming up. 
> 
> Next week you can expect Sakura making a grab for the title of “the most stress-inducing one of Kakashi’s children”. 
> 
> I cannot _cannot_ **CANNOT** wait to hear from you all and read your comments!


	26. Not Waiting For A Sign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But we don't need miracles to tumble from the sky, to part the seas around us or turn water into wine.  
> Because we are the miracles and we happen all the time. We're not scared of what surrounds us. We're not waiting for a sign.
> 
> \- Miracle, Rise Against

The Uzushio renegades celebrate Sakura's fourteenth birthday with homemade cake and red bean dumplings. 

The mood is certainly less jovial than a birthday may call for because all of their minds are still on the Eight Trigrams, on the ticking clock slowly counting down the time they have to find a solution for it. Despite the tension however, all seven inhabitants of the cave try to make Sakura’s birthday a good one. 

There are small garlands of white coastal flowers braided together and draped around the den and kitchen, sugary desserts to eat, and a messily wrapped pile of presents for the pinkette to unwrap. 

Kakashi somehow manages to procure for his eldest student a beautiful dark blue Haori with loose billowing sleeves. It's lined with spider silk armor and enough hidden pockets to store a veritable arsenal of scrolls, brushes, ink and kunai. When Naruto asks where he got the garment Kakashi simply wiggles his brows and grins mysteriously. 

Yugito gifts Sakura a lavender hand cream from Gyson. Sakura asks her if it's a callback to the lavender bath salts that Naruto and her gave Yugito nearly four months ago when the Kumo Kunoichi first arrived in Uzushio. The smile that Yugito gives the pinkette in response is all soft edges and fondness even with her unnaturally sharp teeth.

Naruto and Gaara work together for their gift. Sasuke knows they've been sneaking off for weeks now doing _something_ but even he is surprised when the two youngest Jinchuriki present the set of hand carved Fuinjutsu brushes to Sakura. The set of tools have been lovingly carved from the hard, white wood of the trees that cover O'Uzu's shores and then sand polished till they shine. 

They are elegant but functional and the tiny, messy, clearly hand-done sakura blossoms carved at the base of each brush marks very clearly who they belong to. 

Sakura cries when she opens them and then cries harder when Naruto shows her the small cuts on his hands that he got while carving them and Gaara teases her softly about being glad he is that he's no longer the only fourteen year old among them.

Sasuke waits and gives his gift to her when Kakashi is distracted by Mika. The two books he passes her are small and don’t look like much. It had still taken his summons Dai nearly a month to find both of them though and when Sakura reads the titles her eyes widen almost comically.

"For your project" Sasuke tells her quietly enough that the others won't hear.

She's not told them yet, after all.

Sasuke doesn't agree with the decision to keep the others in the dark but he can't throw stones in this particular glass house. She wants to get stronger and even though the risk for the path she's chosen is great, Sasuke believes fully that it's still her choice to make.

Hopefully 'Chakra Coil Anchors; Integrated Fuinjutsu and Medical Jutsu Volume three' and ‘Traditional Fuinjustu Tattooing’ can make the path a little less treacherous, or at least make it so that she's walking it less blindly.

Sakura stares down at the books for several long moments, overwhelmed to the point of silence, a rarity for the girl who is never short on what to say or do. 

Finally, she wraps an arm around his shoulder and pulls him into a hug, books still held tight against her chest. 

“Thank you for believing in me.”

Sasuke nods, a little awkward but mostly just happy that she’s happy. 

“I trust that you can do this.” he tells her and means it. Sakura will figure this out. She is meticulous and thorough and the most brilliant person Sasuke knows. He trusts that she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to, and he equally trusts that she is smart enough to do so without taking unnecessary risks. 

“Happy Birthday Sakura” he says quietly, and has to bury a grin as Naruto sneaks up behind her preparing to smush leftover cake into her hair. 

-

Less than three weeks later, Sasuke finds that he wishes he had been less trusting of his pink haired teammate’s rationality. 

-

Sakura stands in front of the unassuming wooden door and takes a long, slow breath. 

She glares at the door. The door does not return her ire. For what lays beyond it she really feels like it should be more ornate or more…. threatening. But no, the entrance to the chamber that Sakura discovered two months ago is the simple, white wood of every other door here in the archives, no embellishment, no description, no warning. 

She takes another breath. 

This is a really stupid plan. Sakura happens to be very smart so she knows that it's very stupid and that it's reckless and desperate but…

The image of Naruto pale and vacant and _dying_ flashes across her mind's eye again. 

They are running out of time and her team, depending on her, _trusting_ her, can't afford to wait any longer.

So yes, this is reckless, stupid, desperate, but it's also necessary.

Certainty rediscovered, Sakura reaches and opens the door.

The room she steps into beyond is large and almost as bare as the door that guards it. Proximity seals standard to the Archives flare as she steps further in and golden light floods the space. The light makes the single, defining feature of the room impossible to ignore.

The seal painted across the entirety of the floor is easily the most complex one Sakura has ever seen.

To her trained eyes it's _beautiful_. The seal is a dance of sweeping lines and curves and symbols. Some of the details are so small she would barely be able to make them out without a viewing glass while others are nearly a foot across. The seal manages to almost be more art than function, though Sakura is absolutely certain that it functions just fine.

Over her time here in Uzushio she's spent more than a thousand hours studying seals, and while she had started as a beginner she now regularly dissects high level seals. Master level seals. 

The Eight Trigrams alone is a miracle of Fuinjutsu, precise and complex and degraded to the point that it’s like a paper airplane that is somehow still maintaining it's flight in the midst of a cyclone. The Memorium seal that she is adapting to use against Orochimaru is incredible too, steady, deep and absolute like something that months ago she would never have thought that lines of ink could be. Not to mention her personal project but...

But this seal, buried deep in the Uzushio Archives, hidden away in an unmarked room is… impossible.

Sakura has snuck away from the others several times now and just sat and looked at the lines that whirl across the stone floor in front of her. She has stared at them so many times, studied them so carefully, that she's begun to see them with her eyes closed. She's snuck here with stacks of books and her own detailed notes but still, _still_ she is barely beginning to scratch the surface of the seal’s detail. 

But she has figured out what it’s for. 

If the seal is a novel she's learned the language it's written in well enough to be able to read the chapter headers, the title, the synopsis. She has more than enough information to know that what she's about to do is so, _so, stupid_. 

Kakashi Sensei is going to kill her when he finds out about this, but she hopes that he’s also going to understand why it was worth it. 

If she can make it back out, that is. 

Because the seal in front of her is so beautiful but it is beautiful just like the whirlpools that Sakura has heard about from the fisherman who come and go from Gyson. The swirling vortexes of water are a well known hazard of the turbulent ocean that surround O’Uzu. According to the stories that Sakura has listened to they will swallow a person whole and never let them out.

This seal is the same.

The young fuinjutsu specialist crouches at it's outer reaches, eyes tracing across the nearly thirty feet of minuscule inscriptions once again. The Seal is old. It’s still pristine, no degradation visible, but she can tell just by looking that it has been here as long as the archives themselves. She thinks that it's even possible that this seal was placed here before anything else was. 

To say the seal is complex would be like saying the sun was bright or that the ocean was wet. There are so many different aspects of it that Sakura is certain that she could spend years happily unraveling and documenting all that went into it. All those aspects are somehow, perfectly harmonious, balanced, and intertwined with one another. It's like an orchestra of a thousand instruments.

On it’s right hand side Sakura rereads the segment she had decrypted last week, dedicated to binding and trapping chakras that interacted with this seal. In the secondary ring there is an entire section related to permanence, to literally weaving the veins of the seal in with the natural energy flowing through the land it rests over. In its northern hemisphere is something akin to the structure of the curse mark, something designed to reach beyond the borders of the seal, to inscribe and tether. Curling through the body of the inscription is something that Sakura would call the bastard child of a memorium seal and a sealing contract, something that she would have never thought was even possible until seeing it.

And most striking of the whole ineffable construction is the seal’s heart, its center, the core melody that binds the entire song together. It’s simple really. The matrix is nearly identical to that of your average storage seal, something Sakura learned how to replicate in the first couple months of her studies, that she knew how to identify even while still in the academy. 

This isn’t for storing kunai or traveling packs though. It’s a knowledge sink, a library that's been condensed into two feet of ink that curls and twists like roots all bound up in the middle of more than twenty feet of the most perfect fuinjutsu work that Sakura has ever seen. 

Sakura understands all of this. She reads it in the curling wordless language of Fuinjutsu, the language of give and take and power and flow and silence that she has taught herself over the past five months. 

In the same language, in a voice that is prideful, that is daring her to try, the seal before Sakura says what it's name is.

The Crucible Seal.

Even if she couldn’t read seals to know that’s what this incredible construct of fuinjutsu was christened, the single other point of information in the room beside the seal would give the game away. The carved words on the wall across from the door are stark and clear. 

The inscription reads, "for those who would call themselves Master".

Crucible. Master.

A seal that holds chakra and has every ability to drag her mind and power into its depths and never relinquish them. 

A seal that is completely dormant until someone funnels their chakra into it with the express purpose of waking it, of seeing if they can pass whatever test it apparently offers. 

Sakura closes her eyes and weighs her options one more time. It’s really all right there on the tin. This may be a reckless move but she is not a reckless person. She is a strategist and a protector and… well, she supposes that if she decides to go through with this, she’ll know soon enough if she’s good enough to call herself a Fuinjutist. 

The Crucible Seal has the answer to solving the problem of the Eight Trigrams. She’s more certain of it than of anything in her life. Somewhere beyond all the barriers of ink and the cursive demands, hidden away in its heart, Sakura will find how to save her best friend. 

If, like she said before, she can make it back out. 

She breathes deep and thinks of what her team would say.

Naruto would yell at her and then probably cry. Sasuke would try to kick her ass and _then_ yell at her. Yugito would carry her away by like scruff like a mother cat would a naughty kitten and then lock her in a room until she promised to behave and Gaara would help her. Utakata would cross his arms and frown in that way that managed to convey disappointment more loudly than any shouting ever could.

Sakura values all their opinions but right now, trying to decide to take this risk or not, they are not the voices she imagines. 

She pulls the memories to the surface of her mind as she often does in moments when she isn’t sure what to do, when she’s _doubting_ herself. 

It’s Kakashi Sensei’s voice in every memory, his piercing eyes, his measured faith in her. She remembers his gaze meeting hers when they were still unsure if Yugito and Gaara were there to kill them or not, remembers his belief in her promise to fix the Eight Trigrams, remembers him asking her to be the one at his side when he had to bury the remains from the Uzushio Academy ruins, remembers him supporting her when she swore to get stronger so long ago in front of the dawn kissed Hatake compound. She remembers a hundred moments of him pushing her, challenging her, _daring her_ , to be better, to be _greater_. 

The memory that makes the decision for her now is still crystal clear even though it happened more than half a year ago now. She recalls the smell of a coming storm and the dust of a house long empty, the sound of Naruto and Sasuke’s panicked breaths and her own thundering pulse, the sight of the chakra barrier flickering treacherously under her weakness. Sharper than all of that though, than all the pain and mistrust and fear of that night, is the memory of Kakashi, turning to her, wild and absolute and telling her that limits were nothing, that her team needed her to be strong and so he knew she would be.

Telling her that he trusted her to be enough.

Sakura is brilliant but she isn’t a genius like Shikamaru. She is strong but she isn’t a jinchuriki like Naruto and doesn’t come from a long clan line of warriors like Sasuke. She has no kekkie genkai and no special weapons or techniques that have been passed down to her. 

What she has to offer instead has _always_ been a stubborn refusal to back down no matter the odds, no matter how far behind she is from the starting line. 

Sakura looks again at the Crucible Seal. She thinks of the months of research she’s done for the Eight Trigrams. She knows enough now to be positive that the gap in her knowledge is still too great for her to intuit a solution and that Uzushio doesn’t have any more tricks to pull out of it’s long scorched and broken streets to aid her. Without a miracle, she cannot solve the Eight Trigrams and she cannot save Naruto and Kurama. 

But the Crucible Seal _is_ a miracle. 

She closes her eyes, hears Kakashi’s voice from that night so long ago, “Sakura, there isn’t another option. You have to.” 

She’s scared, but from the very beginning, she’s known that doing the impossible was what she is meant for. That's not because she’s a genius but because she will not be stopped by words like “impossible”.

Or even words like, stupid, reckless or Oh God Sasuke and Naruto really _really_ were going to kick her ass for this. 

No time for that now. 

She has insurmountable odds to overcome after all. 

Sakura rises from the crouch she’s been settled in and walks to the open door. It's time to alert the masses to what’s about to happen. Placing her hands together in the ram sign the pinkette concentrates for a moment, centers herself, and then in the energy equivalent of the loudest shout she can muster she flares her chakra. 

It’s something Kakashi taught them on the road months ago as a signal for if one of them ever got into trouble and needed to call for help. 

Sakura isn’t in trouble _yet_ and she isn’t going to let the rest of Team 7 help her when she starts being in trouble either but… she does want them to know she’s here. 

Not much time to waste now. 

Moving fast she turns and strides back to the edge of the Crucible Seal. Kneeling once again at its outermost border she begins flashing through hand signs rapidly. This barrier jutsu is one she has known for more than a year now. It had been a bonus homework from none other than Iruka Sensei back when she was still in the academy and pretending to be in love with Sasuke, all the while aching to be something _more_. 

It is a strong jutsu, able to be maintained with a relatively minor if a perfectly steady flow of chakra. It had saved them that first night after the Forest of Death and Orochimaru. Sakura thinks that maybe it’s going to save them again now. 

She doesn’t have long left. Maintaining her hold on the barrier she pulls her new Fuinjutsu brushes out of the pouch on her hip. Quickly, neatly, perfectly, she begins to paint the seal she needs against the inside of the barrier itself. It’s a seal once used to strengthen and guard the levees built along Uzushio’s shores during typhoon season. Sakura has adapted it, adjusted it to stabilize not stone but energy. 

It only takes her two minutes to complete the Underpinning Seal and by the time she’s done she’s able to sit back from the barrier that now surrounds her and the Cruicible Seal and allow her concentration on it to relax. The barrier stays up. It’s still drawing chakra from her but she no longer has to focus on maintaining that flow of chakra perfectly. 

Next, she pulls out a small handful of chakra crystals. Similar if significantly smaller than the one they once used once to remove the curse mark, the tiny vessels of energy hold among them about four hours of chakra for the barrier. Sakura sets them on the ground and with precise strokes places an energetic vessel around them and then draws a conduit to the barrier and the seal keeping it steady. 

She sits back again, furrowing her brow as she looks at her overlay. If she’s right, and she thinks she is though she’s never actually tried this combination before, the pairing of the chakra crystals, barrier and Underpinning Seal should mean that no one will be able to reach her to pull her away from the seal for at least the first thirty minutes it takes her to fully activate and access the seal’s...challenge? She’s still not sure what exactly the Crucible has to offer her but she knows that it will likely take a little bit for her to actually reach it. 

She’s not foolish enough to even think for a moment that the barrier will last more than an hour. Knowing her Sensei and her team, when they find out what she’s doing here…

Yeah, she best hurry. 

Sakura moves to the edge of the Crucible again and examines its array carefully. She finds the spirit and chakra adit quickly. Compared to the convoluted nature of the rest of the seal, it's a simple and clear pathway.

Whoever crafted this seal may as well have written "please place hands here", Sakura thinks a bit sardonically. 

She settles into the lotus position and with hands that only shake a little she reaches back and pulls her hair into a tight ponytail. Sakura pops her neck and takes a bracing, deep breath. 

It’s time. 

She doesn’t hear the footsteps of his arrival but Kakashi’s voice still doesn’t surprise her when it sounds through the bare room from the doorway behind her, tense and worried.

“Sakura? What are you…”

Her teacher trails off. She looks back over her shoulder, watching the whip fast way his bichromatic eyes fly over the sight before him. It’s all rather obvious she knows, rather incriminating. Her, the barrier, the seal. 

“Sakura” he says again and this time he sounds afraid, sounds _angry_ “Whatever you are doing you need to _stop_ and tell me what’s going on. I’m-”

Sakura wants for one damning moment to throw herself out of the barrier and into his arms. 

But she has to do this. 

“It’ll be okay Sensei” she interrupts him with the most confident smile she can muster “I’ll see you on the other side.” 

And then she turns away from him and yanks chakra to the surface of her skin. Without another moment of hesitation, she slams her palms down onto the Crucible seal and pours energy into it. 

The seal explodes into radiance under her touch as a mass of chakra that had been sleeping for nearly two decades awakens with all the subtlety of a hundred thousand paper bombs. A burning, scorching, golden light fills every corner of the room instantly, chasing away the shadows and making the words carved on the wall stark.

Sakura has just enough time to hear Kakashi scream her name and for a single thought to materialize in her mind. 

“I may have miscalculated on how long it would take me to lose consciousness”, she thinks with surprise. 

And then her mind falls forward into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I'm posting this from my phone so fingers crossed that the formatting isn't absolutely buckwild but HEY Y'ALL! ♡ 
> 
> As promised last week, a Sakura Causing Problems and Maybe Solving Some If She's Lucky chapter! I really love this one and the one that's coming next week, mostly because, as you all know, Fuinjutsu nonsense is my _jam_. 
> 
> I wanted to do an ~interest check~ and see how y'all would feel about me starting a discord for this fic. I'd love to be able to chat with y'all more and get feedback about chapter titles and such or even just rant about the show! Let me know if y'all would be down for it in the comments. 👀👀
> 
> Next week is more Smarty Sakura, Stressed Kakashi and Sealing Bullshit wrapped up in a whopping 7500 words, so you all have _that_ to look forward to! Things are...not going to go as planned for our favorite pink haired nerd. 😈
> 
> I look forward as always to reading your comments!!! Sending hugs to all!


	27. Give Me My Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go now but come again. Dark clouds gather 'round, will I run or stand my ground? Oh, when I come to climb show me the mountain so far behind. Give me my way. Give me my love. Give me my choice. You keep me coming around. Give me my fate. Give me my lungs. Give me my voice.
> 
> -Mountain at my Gates, Foals

Sakura opens her eyes and blinks against the strange, sourceless light that meets her gaze. 

She's standing alone in an empty room, unfamiliar room. 

Actually… she does recognize the space. This is the exact same room that she had literally just been in, only this one is completely bare. There is no Crucible seal on the floor, no lit sconces on the walls, no carved text on the wall.

It's just her in the bare space.

Actually… it's not just her.

Her mind processes the fact that she's not alone before her eyes actually see anyone else, and not because she just misses the other presences or because they are hiding, but the figures who suddenly surround her on all sides are simply not recognized by her consciousness until now.

Genjutsu? She finds herself wondering. It certainly feels like it, like her senses are not her own.

She turns her head slowly side to side, counting. 

Eleven strangely faceless shades stand around her. They are human, she thinks, but her gaze seems to slip from their features like oil off the ocean's surface. They are simply...shadows. 

And then suddenly they are not.

A voice breaks the thundering tension of her heart. It's an old crackling voice, dry but strong. 

"Did you come here on accident, little girl?" 

Sakura turns to the speaker.

He's standing on her left and she can _see_ him now. He's..old, _so_ old, with hair as white as sea foam and eyes pale and sightless. His skin is tan and freckled from sun exposure and he wears a dark blue robe patterned with intricate embroidery of churning waves and leaping orca.

He doesn't say anything more but as Sakura meets those piercing eyes she finds that she knows him.

Emon Oki, born in the warring states period, first Seal Master of Uzushiogakure. Died of heart failure at seventy eight. Married to Megumi Oki. Favorite food dried seaweed crisps. Birthday- 

Sakura shakes her head against the deluge of information. What is going on?

"Well?" Emon demands.

"No I…" why is she so _nervous_ "I am here on purpose. I am seeking information."

"Information? There are less foolish ways to find information." 

It's a new voice and Sakura turns again, this time to her right and behind her another shade has gained a face.

This man is younger. He has dark hair and an intricate beard. He's wearing traditional battle armor, red as blood, and has his arms crossed sternly over his chest. 

Yasumichi Sone, Sakura's whirling mind supplies, born immediately after Uzushio was established. Fourth Seal Master of Uzushiogakure. Was killed in the Second Shinobi war by Kumo forces. Prefers cold weather over hot. Invented the split inscription technique- 

Sakura groans, presses a hand against her eye and tries to fight past the nausea that's beginning to swim in her gut.

"Would you all settle down and let the child get adjusted. If she says she's here on purpose then we need to treat her with the same respect as any other who comes before us." 

Sakura doesn't even have to physically look this time to be assaulted with the image of the woman speaking now. She's middle aged and tall, with dark skin and intricate white tattoos curling across the surface of her cheeks down over the collarbones bared by her elegant kimono. 

Mahori Ige, third Seal Master of Uzushiogakure. Contributed to front line transfer practices and revolutionized Fūinjutsu battle usage during the Second great shinobi war. First Kunoichi to be granted the title of Seal Master. 

Suddenly Sakura is inundated with identities and faces and names and _lives_.

Fuyuki Hagiwara, tenth Seal Master, born forty eight years ago during a hurricane. Gin and Rin Matsuo, ninth and eighth, identical twins though Gin was 3 centimeters taller and made sure everyone knew that. Masabumi Fukunaga, sixth, killed in Tea country in an ambush but still managed to take out three dozen men before he went down. Rikona Oki, seventh, notorious for her detonator trap fuinjutsu. Daiju Hisamatsu, second, once voted most likely to trip over his own feet out of all the Uzushio Jonin. Kanehiro Chaiki, fifth, allergic to cats. 

Sakura finds herself on her knees, panting and vision swimming. Her brain feels like it's been rattled around inside her skull. 

She looks up, blinking, trying to begin making sense of the baffling, overwhelming stream of knowledge and realizes someone is kneeling in front of her.

The woman peering at her face with concern is young, no more than 17. She is by far the youngest among the eleven people in the room. No, not just people the _Seal Masters_ in the room. Sakura isn't a fool and she can see the unifying threads in each of their lives. As diverse and colorful and individualistic as they lived, all eleven of the shades share the stain of ink and the drag of brush calluses on fingertips and the legacy of burning, binding, dancing, world shattering seals. 

"You alright?"

The woman's voice is warm and her eyes are a silver so bright that they shine like the moon and her hair is red, red, _red_.

Her name hits Sakura like a fucking sledgehammer to the gut. 

Nami Uzumaki. Eleventh Seal Master of Uzushiogakure. Youngest ever confirmed Fuinjutsu master in the history of the village. Liked ramen and spicy things. Cousin to Kushina Uzumaki. Died two months after receiving her confirmation with a Kunai through her throat during Whirlpools fall, nineteen years ago. 

"She's Naruto's family." Sakura thinks and doesn't manage to fight back the tears that thought brings to her eyes.

"Just breath" Nami tells her, placing tan, calloused hands on Sakura heaving shoulders, "let the information flow and it'll get easier, ya know?"

"Fuck" Sakura gasps out cause it's too much. But she listens to the young woman's advice and just let's herself know the things she knows now without fighting it.

The rest of the Uzushio Seal masters wait. 

After only another minute of steady breathing Sakura feels a little less like her brain is trying to leak out of her ears and, giving Nami a slightly strained smile, she stands. 

"Feeling better child?" 

That's Emon again, white eyes studying her with less hostility than before.

Sakura still feels her spine straighten subconsciously under the examination, her chin tilting up in proud defiance.

She _dares_ him to find her as anything less than worthy of…. 

Worthy of what exactly? She's in the dark as to what is going on here.

She had known that the Crucible Seal would test her but she really hadn't expected an actual, conscious jury. 

"What is your name girl?" demands Yasumichi. His red armor clinks subtly as he walks closer to her side, judgemental eyes dragging over her form.

Sakura wishes that she hadn't worn sweatpants and a tank top for this but even more she wishes that Yasumichi would back off before she's tempted to see if the Seal's design will allow her to hit the ghosts that it holds. 

"Sakura Haruno." She manages to grit out in response. 

Nami tilts her head curiously this way and that, an energetic habit that Sakura has seen Naruto do more than once. 

"I don't see a headband or village symbol on ya? And you can't be a Uzushio nin because last I checked Mist and Cloud fucking destroyed everything" Her silver eyes sharpen and suddenly they don't remind Sakura of the moon anymore, but of a freshly sharpened katana, "Who do you answer to, Sakura Haruno?"

Sakura refuses to flinch under that gaze, "I don't answer to a village. My team and I defected from Konohagakura nearly seven months ago." 

There is an uproarious laugh from Sakura's left as Gin tilts sideways into his twin, slapping a hand against his thigh in mirth.

"You're a fucking missing nin? And you somehow stumbled into the archives and accidentally activated the Crucible!? Oh god that's the funniest thing I've heard since I died." 

"Shut _up_ G, you're being annoying again" snaps Rin, shoving his brother off him. 

No one would be able to blame Sakura for losing her temper. 

"I didn't stumble anywhere!" Sakura explodes at the room at large "I arrived here in the archives with an Uzumaki and have been instructing myself in Seals since then and I am _very good _. I fully intend to take _and pass_ whatever test you deem necessary to saddle me with so that I can access the information sink at the heart of this Seal!!" __

__She's breathing heavily by the time she's done and she knows her cheeks are the splotchy red flush that they turn when she gets overly agitated. She doesn't care though. She will not stand here passively while these shades, these _memories_ trapped in ink insult and doubt her. _ _

__Eleven pairs of eyes stare at her in shock._ _

__"Wow you mean it" says Rin, blinking large black eyes at her._ _

__"You've been studying for less than a year and you intend to take our test" scoffs Yasumichi and he sounds annoyed but he also sounds… worried._ _

__"You don't know what I'm fucking capable of." Sakura snarls at him. She doesn't want his annoyance _or_ his concern._ _

__"Sakura-chan" Nami's ton is softer, more serious than it's been yet, "Do you know how this works? Do you know what happens if you don't pass?"_ _

__The fear that's been swimming in the base of her stomach since she discovered the Crucible reaches out into her veins like poison before Sakura manages to grab and wrangle it back under control._ _

__She does know. The Crucible Seal hadn't been hiding the threat it was._ _

__"If I fail the Seal consumes my chakra entirely and uses it to continue powering itself for years to come. It kills me."_ _

__"And yet you still choose to risk this, to come before us with no Village to defend and half a year of study to prepare you?" Mahori hasn't moved once in the whole exchange so far, her hands remaining tucked away in her sweeping kimonos robes._ _

__Sakura meets her eyes, meets _all_ of their eyes one at a time and says again, softer, "you don't know what I'm fucking capable of" and then as that sinks in she adds "and I have something far more precious than a village to defend." _ _

__The eleven Seal Masters look at one another and then in a voice, ringing and official, Emon pronounces, "Very well, nothing else to do for it, let us begin the admittance test for the confirmation or expulsion of a new Seal Master to our ranks."_ _

__Sakura's brain squeaks to a halt._ _

__"Sorry, what was that? I just wanted to access the information stored here I'm not looking to be-"_ _

__Mahori does move now, pulling her hands from her sleeves and sweeping them wide to gesture around the room at the collected Fuinjustu specialists. "Haruno, look at us. Think about who you are speaking to. What do you think the information you seek is? Where do you think it _comes from_?"_ _

__Oh, thinks Sakura. Oh, holy shit._ _

__She opens her mouth to say something smart and instead says "Oh my gods I'm an idiot. You all are the information sink. It's the collection of your knowledge, your experience. _You're_ an archive in memory form." _ _

__"Ehhhh, not an idiot," says Nami tilting her hand side to side in a so-so motion, "Fuyuki didn't figure it out until Mahori told him apparently."_ _

__The middle aged blonde who'd been silent until now flushes under the spiraling clan symbols on his face and hisses "Nami, not cool"._ _

__The young Uzumaki sticks her tongue out at him and then flashes a playful, conspiratorial smile Sakura's way. It's so familiar that some of the fear drains out of her._ _

__It's replaced, however, by confusion because, "But wait, I know there are other Seal Masters that exist outside of Uzushio and this seal. Jiraiya is a-"_ _

__A shriek like a banshee rends through Sakura's question._ _

__" **THAT FUCKING SHIT HEAP ON LEGS IS STILL ALIVE? NO ONE'S KILLED HIM YET!?** " _ _

__Rikona explodes, and despite the fact that she barely reaches her shoulder, Sakura has to fight the sudden urge to hide behind something._ _

__"Deep Breath Rikona-San, deep breath" hums  
Masabumi, patting Rikona's shoulder nervously and with the look of someone ready to yank his hand back at any second lest he lose a finger. _ _

__"Jiraiya is no Seal Master, Sakura." Emon speaks over Rikona's ongoing snarls of rage. His bushy eyebrows are pulled low, making the heavy wrinkles on his face even more pronounced._ _

__"He was talented for certain, but there were many talented Fuinjutsu experts the world over once and while some of them may have paraded the title 'Master' in fits of boastful pride, they were not and will never be recognized among us."_ _

__"Because they haven't passed whatever your test is." Sakura realizes aloud._ _

__Emon inclines his head in acknowledgement._ _

__Sakura squeezes her eyes shut and thinks, oh god this was a crazy idea, and then she thinks, Kakashi is going to kill me, and then, I really shouldn't tell Kakashi the details at all._ _

__She takes a deep breath, opens her eyes, thinks, I'll decide whether I tell him or not when I _see him_ after I _survive this_._ _

__Outloud she says "What do I need to do."_ _

__~_ _

__Elsewhere, in a dark corridor deep in the belly of the Uzushio archives, Kakashi is pacing_ _

__The hallways this deep in the archives are claustrophobic, the ceilings low and dark, uneven stone. He stalks ten paces, turns on his heel, and stalks ten paces the other direction._ _

__He feels, literally, like a wolf in a very small cage._ _

__He looks again into the doorway of the room he's passed easily three hundred times over the past several hours. Nothing has changed since the last time he checked thirteen seconds ago._ _

__Despite this, despite Obito's sharingan offering him the uncomforting certainty that Sakura hasn't so much as shifted since he last asked, Kakashi grits out, "Anything?"_ _

__Sasuke, kneeling next to his teammate with his fingers pressed on her pulse point and his own sharingan activated and trained on her slow breaths, shakes his head._ _

__"Nothing since her pulse spiked and her face got all flushed nearly two hours ago."_ _

__Kakashi snarls under his breath and turns, continuing his worn circuit on the stone floor._ _

__Sakura has been unresponsive for six hours now. Six hours since Kakashi appeared in the doorway of the sealing chamber, ready for the worst after her chakra flare, only to watch her activate the massive seal spread across the space with an explosion of energy._ _

__It had only taken them thirty seconds to get through the barrier she set up and not because the barrier wasn't _very_ robust. It was better than almost any Kakaehi had ever seen in fact, perfectly executed and then enforced with a seal that if he had been alone would have taken him hours to surpass. _ _

__But Kakashi wasn't alone because Naruto had arrived only moments after he had watched the seal activate. Smelling his Sensei's terror and seeing Sakura's unmoving form behind the wall of energy, Naruto had looked at the barrier and then he had simply...gone through it._ _

__Kakashi still isn't sure exactly what happened. One moment his blonde student had been standing next to him, all panting breaths and wide red eyes and radiating worry and the next…._ _

__Kakashi had never seen the six-tails form of Naruto's Jinchuriki transformation before today._ _

__He hopes he never has to see it again._ _

__The boy had torn through the wall with clawed hands of roiling, hyperdense, amber chakra as if it was made of paper._ _

__The barrier had failed and Naruto had hit the ground next to Sakura on his hands and knees, choking on bile as the Eight Trigrams fluctuated with the overwhelming amount of energy and panic roiling in it. Sasuke and Yugito had come barreling into the room only moments later still sweaty from training together._ _

__The only reason Kakashi had refrained from yanking his pink haired student away from the malicious thing lighting the room was that before he could Yugito had grabbed him and thrown him away from her._ _

__"Think for a second you fucking idiot!" The Two-tails Jinchuriki had screamed at him, standing between him and his kids, backlit by the light of the seal with wide, wild eyes._ _

__"Kakashi there is no telling what pulling her away from the seal would do. If you don't _stop_ and think you're going to get her _killed_!" _ _

__She'd been right but Kakashi had still almost gone through her like Naruto had gone through the barrier jutsu to get to his kid._ _

__Infuriating, caring, _stupid_ , woman. _ _

__If he didn't truly love Yugito before, count her as precious before, the fact that without her Sakura may be dead…_ _

__Suffice to say, he owes her._ _

__The other Jonin had taken Naruto and left a few hours ago. The blonde Jinchuriki had been furious at being made to leave. Even pale, trembling and in cold sweats as his seal shuddered under the brunt of his negative emotions, he hadn't been willing to even consider leaving Sakura's side._ _

__It wasn't until Sasuke had grabbed his blond teammate's face, and butting his forehead none too gently against his, said "I'll bring her back. Trust me, you idiot" that Naruto had relented and allowed himself to be guided back to the main part of the caves._ _

__Now all Kakashi and Sasuke can do is wait._ _

__Sakura is still exactly as she was so many hours ago. She is sitting in a relaxed lotus position with her hands pressed just inside the edge of the gently glowing seal. Tiny beads of cool blue light travel along the seal's arteries in an indiscernible pattern. Occasionally the whole construct flares slightly, sparks of faint energy drifting upward towards the low ceiling._ _

__The words carved into the stone wall do not move, mocking and challenging, and neither does Kakashi's student._ _

__He paces by the doorway again. As he did once so many mornings ago Kakashi looks at Sakura, brave, determined, so clever and so ruthless, and he thinks of Obito._ _

__Obito who he loved. Obito who died in a cave. Obito who died where Kakashi could do nothing but watch helplessly._ _

__Just as he can do nothing now._ _

__Something in him tenses, nearly snaps, and Kakashi snarls and spins, preparing to slam a fist into the nearby stone wall, furious at his powerlessness._ _

__"Hey!"_ _

__The rage in Sasuke's voice stops him short._ _

__The Uchiha's hands are still steady and careful on Sakura's pulse, never risking shifting her hands from where they make contact with the surface of the seal, but his Sharingan eyes are _blazing_ as he looks back at Kakashi. _ _

__"Don't you dare" Sasuke rebukes "she needs you to hold it the fuck together. I-" he stumbles, clenches his eyes shut, "I need you to hold it together. Mika isn't here and if you start going to pieces then I'm-"_ _

__Kakashi hears the rising panic even though Sasuke's hands never falter, never tremble._ _

__I'm the most selfish mentor ever, Kakashi thinks darkly, I'm not the only one who is terrified of losing the people I love._ _

__Without a word he makes his way over to Sasuke and crouches by the boy. He doesn't touch him, doesn't apologize, but when Sasuke turns wide, fearful eyes toward him Kakashi offers a tremulous, crooked smile in response._ _

__"I'll wait here with you, until she wakes up."_ _

__Kakashi refuses to even consider the possibility that she won't._ _

__Sasuke nods gratefully and turns back to continue focusing on monitoring Sakura's condition._ _

__Once his students' gaze has left him Kakashi clenches his eyes shut and tries to breathe through his memories._ _

__Sakura is not Obito. She is not lost to him._ _

__She will not be another name on the memorial stone that is his heart._ _

__Kakashi settles in next to his kids and waits._ _

__~_ _

__Back in the sealing space, Sakura is trying hard to bury the feeling that she is barely treading water in a veritable ocean of peril._ _

__"The test is simple" Emon tells her, "All that is required is that you add something unique to the knowledge accumulated here."_ _

__Sakura blinks hard._ _

__"So I have to show you something you've never seen before."_ _

__The Uzushio Seal Masters nod._ _

__Her heart is in her throat._ _

__"Does it have to be completely original? Can it draw inspiration from other seals?"_ _

__Kanehiro shrugs "A little questionable but not unprecedented. Masabumi passed with a particularly original adaptation of Yasumichi's concussion seal…"_ _

__"But it is risky" cuts in Mahori, "Where is the line between inspiration and plagiarism? Between tradition and originality?"_ _

__Fuck, Sakura thinks. Her adaption of the Memorium Seal is just that, an _adaption_. It won't be enough._ _

__But her personal project isn't ready and she's never tested it and it's _crazy_ , she thinks desperately._ _

__It's her only choice though. She has nothing else original to offer, nothing to add to the knowledge pool._ _

__Talk about trial by fire, she thinks._ _

__"Alright. I know what I'd like to offer."_ _

__"Very well," Emon says "then repeat after me; I, Sakura Haruno, before this council of my peers and elders, do offer a seal of my own, to expand and strengthen the art Uzushio's legacy of Fuinjutsu and to prove my capabilities as a master and crafter of the practice."_ _

__Sakura does so, though she barely hears the words leave her mouth._ _

__This is it. All her cards on the table, all her skills under the magnifying glass. No notes, no guides, no second chances._ _

__This is where she finally learns if she is more than just a bookworm with a good memory._ _

__"Begin" says Emon._ _

__A pot of ink and a set of standard Fuinjutsu brushes appears on the ground in front of her. There are no scrolls to accompany it so Sakura assumes that whatever she's supposed to show is to be placed on the floor just as the Crucible Seal was._ _

__She needs a different canvas for her seal however._ _

__Sakura crouchs on the floor in front of the brushes and ink and then, taking a deep breath and fighting down the foolish, juvenile urge to blush, she pulls off her tank top._ _

__None of the Fuinjutsu masters say anything but in the strange sealing space of the crucible Sakura can still feel their confusion._ _

__"Ignore them" she commands herself, and reaches for the brushes._ _

__She lays the first lines at the base of her throat, the gestures so familiar by now that she has no need for a mirror. The upper aspects of her seal are still minimal anyway, the complicated, intricate, detail won't come till her midriff and below her elbows._ _

__The Uzushio Masters have drifted closer. Eleven pairs of eyes watch her work keenly._ _

__"A corporeal seal" murmurs Rin, "No one has tried that before."_ _

__"No, no one has had the balls to" grins Nami and she moves a step closer and crouches in front of Sakura again, her silver eyes alight with fascination as Sakura carefully, steadily paints the matrices of her creation across her ribs._ _

__Sakura is trying to ignore _why_ no one has likely tried to demonstrate a corporeal seal in this test before. Despite her best efforts, the words of one of the earliest books she read here, a fundamentals guide that went over many of the core rules of Fuinjutsu, runs through her mind._ _

__"Corporeal seals, otherwise known as seals that are inscribed upon a person's body are rare and difficult. Because of a shinobi's natural chakra system, any long term seal matrices placed on the skin will either disintegrate or do lasting damage to the chakra network and coils of the seals bearer. Only seals that are passive, or stabilized externally are corporeally applicable in the long term."_ _

__Sakura's seal is neither of those things. When she had tried to externally stabilize it the whole structure had collapsed and, well, to call it passive couldn't be further from the mark._ _

__She pushes past the doubt. She knows this will work. She's spent days pouring over referential texts both about Fuinjutsu and medical jutsu. She's spent entire nights studying her own chakra pathways and meditating as she familiarized herself with every single state that the energy in her body would naturally flow into. No matter what the books say, what they believe is impossible she _knows_ this will work._ _

__If it doesn't though…, her thoughts whisper treacherously._ _

__Sakura ignores the doubt, lifts the brush and takes a deep breath, calming the tremble that tries to work it's way into her hands before continuing._ _

__Another minute passes and she begins drawing out the lines on her stomach. This is where her work needs to be the most careful. In the hundreds of times she has practiced drawing this seal out the majority of her mistakes are made here. Here, where she is weaving several different types of seals in with her own chakra coils and pathways, stabilizing it by intertwining the network she is painting onto her skin with the one that runs under it._ _

__She moves to her arms. The drying crackle of ink on her skin is an annoyance but the eyes on her are a _distraction_. She ignores them, refuses to look at the jury watching her every brush stroke. _ _

__Daiju, let's out a hum of surprised recognition as Sakura sweeps the brush down over the back of her hands, spirals lines out in a parody of a seal she first saw six months ago._ _

__"Those are my Quay Seals" murmurs Daiju, "but...why? They were never meant to be stable enough to be put on skin and all they do is absorb and slowly release the force of the surf so that the western facing peers won’t erode as quickly... "_ _

__Mahori hums in agreement before adding "yes, but look at how she's shifting their groundings. And their shape is similar to your originals but see the way she's expanded them, complicated them. They are more flexible in this form."_ _

__Carefully, Sakura connects the lines of the adapted Quay Seals on her arms to the cluster of lines on her midriff. This is the tricky part._ _

__What she is slowly painting onto her skin needs to function as an extension of her chakra system, not an independent creation. Her seal has to be exact structurally and it has to line perfectly with her natural chakra network. If it does, then she should be able to avoid the standard degradation that comes with high-use corporal seals._ _

__If it’s wrong however, in theory or execution…_ _

__No time to worry about that now._ _

__She looks back over the lines she’s laid so far, double checks each symbol and measures spacing with her eyes._ _

__Is that line a quarter centimeter too far to the left? Was that anchor point supposed to be on that matrices or the one above it?_ _

__Sakura shakes her head furiously. She’s doubting herself._ _

__The seal is right, her theory is good. She hasn't actually tried this part yet but she _believes_ that it will work._ _

__All that’s left to do is prove it and hope that it’s enough for the Masters watching her._ _

__Sakura puts the brush between her teeth and then she takes a deep breath and reaches into her chakra network. She sends a gentle pulse of energy into the lines swirling across her skin, and like a newborn, the seal breathes._ _

__There are several gasps of shock from her spectators as Sakura’s seal lights gently, faint golden light sparking down it’s length and then fading, pulsing slightly._ _

__She ignores the reaction and focusing, focusing, _focusing_ , lays the last few lines. Meridian path to energy dock. Balancing the yin reticulation against the lattice stabilizing her chakra flow… _ _

__She breathes all the air out of her lungs._ _

__The seal is done. She can feel the energy flowing gently through it and then circulating back into her body. It’s working._ _

__She hopes that it’s original enough of a creation to be worthy._ _

__She hopes she is enough to save her best friend._ _

__The Uzushio Eleven are waiting in bated silence._ _

__"My Seal is called the Sentinel Seal. It absorbs force that comes into contact with my body, stores it for however long I need and then releases it at my will. In theory, I should be able to absorb an impact, and turn around and expel the force of the original blow. Simply put, if someone hits me, the Sentinel makes it so that I will hit them back with the same energy and then some. "_ _

__There is silence for several long moments and for a second Sakura is terrified that it's not enough, that she fucked up or the seal is faulty or it's uses to many pieces from other seals or-_ _

__"Holy shit" breathes Nami._ _

__And then the Eleven greatest seal Masters in Uzushio's history burst into noise._ _

__Yasumichi grabs her wrist and turns if forcefully, dragging a considerate finger over the lines on her wrist._ _

__"Look, _look_ , Daiju. The way she's integrated and woven your Quay seal in with her chakra pathways."_ _

__The other man nods and tapping against the lines on her wrist says "yes but here and here you can see the cache aspect is altered. Instead of a long term slow release this line and this pair of symbols will allow for a rapid fire expulsion of energy. Kanehiro I believe it's-"_ _

__Kanehiro is leaning over Daiju and Yasumichi, his hair escaping it's neat bun and his eyes bright._ _

__"It's absolutely a mirror of my flying seals. But unlike the way that Tobirama adapted it, she's made it steadier, less volatile."_ _

__Both of the other Seal Masters nod in agreement and Sakura would be more pleased with the praise but on her other side Nami and Gin are leaning into her space as well. Nami trails her fingertips along the lines of ink on Sakura's stomach. If Sakura wasn't so overwhelmed she'd maybe be more flustered about such a pretty girl touching her when she is wearing only her chest bindings but -_ _

__Nami's face suddenly lights up with joy._ _

__"This part is drawing inspiration from Kushina's Jinchuriki seal! I can see it's shadow in how you are incorporating the Sentinel into your heart chakras! Is she the Uzumaki you arrived with?"_ _

__Sakura's blood freezes in her veins._ _

__Nami rambles on excitedly not noticing Sakura's stricken expression, "She was always shit at seals, would much rather punch something, the damn wild child. Gods she must be _old_ now! Almost forty right? I always told her she'd get wrinkles before me even if she was four years younger than me. You'll have to tell her-"_ _

__"She's dead, Nami-san" Sakura whispers._ _

__The chatter in the room dies instantly._ _

__Nami Uzumaki stares at her with wide, shocked eyes. Slowly her hands drop from where they had been gesturing excitedly and she fists the fabric of her pants._ _

__There is silence for several long moments._ _

__"How long ago?" Nami finally asks._ _

__"Thirteen years. She died saving her son, my teammate, Naruto."_ _

__Nami gives a halfhearted, watery laugh even as tears begin to run down her cheeks._ _

__"She always said she'd never get married or have kids. I wonder what man decided to put up with her."_ _

__The eleventh Uzushio Seal Master wipes at her eyes furiously. Mahori reaches out and places a comforting hand on her shoulder while the rest of the gathered shades look on quietly._ _

__Nami takes a few steadying breaths and then meets Sakura's eyes. Her gaze is still teary but the blaze of her silver eyes is bright and fierce._ _

__"You protect Kushina's son, okay? I failed to keep his mom safe, so you take over for me.”_ _

__That blade-like look is back in her eyes and her voice turns ugly as she snarls “The world has had it's fair _fucking_ share of Uzumaki blood." _ _

__Sakura was always going to protect Naruto, she is here now to protect Naruto, but still, "I swear it. Until my dying breath."_ _

__Nami holds her eyes and then nods once sharply._ _

__Sakura can still see the mourning in Nami's eyes, the keen pain of loss._ _

__How lonesome, Sakura thinks, to be a ghost but to still have to watch as your loved ones leave this world without you._ _

__Emon breaks the silence, "I believe we have a decision to make."_ _

__Sakura, still crouched on the ground with ink drying on her skin and hair sticking to the back of her neck and heart in her throat stares up at the Masters around her. This is it._ _

__"All those opposed to indoctrination, speak."_ _

__Sakura closes her eyes._ _

__The silence in the Crucible sealing space is deafening._ _

__"All those in support?" Says Emon, and her eyes still aren't open but she can hear the smile in his voice._ _

__Sakura's mind is still processing the lack of opposition when eleven pronouncements of "aye!" come from all sides of her._ _

__"Rise, Sakura Haruno, twelfth Seal Master of Uzushiogakure" pronounces Emon and the grin is even more obvious in his dry voice now._ _

__Sakura opens her eyes. She should probably be freaking out. Scratch that, she _is_ freaking out. Should she put her shirt back on? Oh my god if she's not going to die here then Kakashi is still definitely going to kill her when she leaves._ _

__"Come on now," Nami's smile is still sad around the edges but she looks proud "stand up Sakura. You've just beaten my record of youngest ever Uzushio Seal Master."_ _

__"I don't know what to say." Sakura whispers horsley to the young Uzumaki and Nami just grins bigger, pulling her to her feet._ _

__"Well obviously you say you accept."_ _

__"I do accept." Sakura breathes out, and then louder "I do! I accept the position of a Seal Master and all that it entails."_ _

__Nami props her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow asks, “then are you ready to officially join the club, kid?”_ _

__“Don’t call me kid” Sakura frowns distractedly even as she turns in confusion, feeling ten different hands being laid against her back, her arm, her shoulder, the back of her neck._ _

__“Hey, all these assholes made fun of me for being the youngest for _years_ , your turn now” grins Nami, drawing her attention forward again. _ _

__Sakura studies her. Naruto’s first cousin, young and brilliant and killed far too young. She almost wants to apologize, to beg for forgiveness for what was done to the village that Nami must have loved enough to die for, for not being strong enough to seek revenge for her, for all the Uzushio Seal Masters._ _

__Seeing something in her face Nami’s eyes soften and her smile twists slightly, turns bittersweet. She lifts one of her hands and places it over Sakura’s heart._ _

__“Do us proud, kid. We’ll be waiting here for you when you need us.”_ _

__Sakura nods sharply and then suddenly she is falling backwards. The ground opens under her and darkness sweeps in to fill the edges of her vision. The last she sees of the Crucible sealing space is Nami’s bright grin as she holds a thumbs up._ _

__Goddamn Uzumakis, Sakura thinks before she slams back into her body with all the delicacy of a star falling to earth._ _

__~_ _

__Sakura comes to gasping._ _

__She’s on her side and she feels like absolute shit. Her legs are completely dead and her back and shoulders are aching terrible. Her mouth is dry, she has to piss so badly she might die, and the back of her neck hurts like someone has put a branding iron against it._ _

__“Sakura? Are you with us?” It’s Sasuke. He’s using the ‘I’m a medic and thus I am very calm right now’ voice that he pulls out sometimes when one of them gets hurt, but even it’s shaky._ _

__Sakura tries to say “I’m fine” and instead just manages a pathetic gurgle, her dry throat failing to get with the program._ _

__“Here, water” Sasuke passes her a flask and she drinks deeply and gratefully._ _

__Kakashi is next to Sasuke, watching her carefully with both his regular eye and the sharingan. He looks relieved but his face is drawn and there are dark bags under his eyes._ _

__“Good to see you kiddo” he says quietly and he sounds so relieved that Sakura blinks in confusion. How long was she out for?_ _

__Interrupting her confusion, Sasuke, pulling a small penlight from his pouch, explains, “I need to ask you a few quick questions. Can you follow the light with your eyes while I do? I’d like to check to make sure all your faculties are operating normally.”_ _

__Sakura nods, flask still in her hands and body still aching immensely._ _

__“What’s your name and age?”_ _

__“Sakura Haruno, I’m fourteen.”_ _

__“Where are you right now?”_ _

__“The Uzushio Mountain Archives, in the chamber housing the Crucible Seal.”_ _

__“So that’s what the damn thing is called” Kakashi murmurs sending the seal an acrid glare even as Sasuke peers at both of her eyes closely, shining the light in one and then the other._ _

__“Dizziness? Disorientation? Any trouble taking deep breaths?”_ _

__“No, none of that. I do feel like I got kicked down a flight of stairs though” Sakura bemoans._ _

__“Yes, my informed opinion is that sitting on a stone floor for seventeen fucking hours will do that.”_ _

__Sakura, in the middle of taking another swallow from the flask, nearly spits water in shock._ _

__“Did you say _seventeen hours_?”_ _

__Sasuke hums noncommittally and then responds, “One more quick question….”_ _

__She nods in distracted shock. Seventeen Hours? Sakura could have sworn she was in the seal for less than twenty minutes. What in the world…_ _

__"How much do you need as a fair head start before I kick your ass for scaring us like that?" Sasuke asks._ _

__She jerks her head up to meet his eyes. Under all his calm medic persona, Sasuke looks _furious_. His sharingan eyes are spinning steadily and the low lights of the chamber and the dark circles he spouts like Kakashi makes his gaze practically glow with anger. _ _

__“Ah,” Sakura answers eloquently. With the look in her teammates eyes maybe she doesn't have to worry about Kakashi killing her after all. Sasuke may just do the job for him._ _

__“I must have missed a temporal faze in the seal. It was only seventeen minutes in the time of the sealing space, but translated...” She raises a hand to rub sheepishly at the back of her neck, “I’m sorry I really wasn’t trying to worry you. I-”_ _

__The moment her palm makes contact with the skin of her neck, Sakura's vision tunnels._ _

__She lurches forward with a gasp of shock. Sasuke and Kakashi’s hands instantly reaching to steady her are the only things that keep her from hitting the ground._ _

__“Sakura!” Sasuke’s hands light green and immediately raise to begin a damage scan of her body._ _

__She waves him off, shaking her head._ _

__“No, no, I’m okay! It’s fine! Actually, it’s more than fine!”_ _

__She must be grinning like a loon from the way that Kakashi and Sasuke both are looking at her like she’s insane._ _

__“It is not _fine_!” Sasuke hisses, his anger temporarily replaced with worry as he lifts his hands again to do a sweep over her. _ _

__Sakura ignores her teammates' mothering. She knows that he won’t feel better until he can see for himself that there is nothing wrong with her aside from some aches and rising exhaustion. As he busies himself with checking her over, Sakura raises her gaze to meet Kakashi’s._ _

__“I figured it out Sensei.”_ _

__He offers her a questioning hum and she can see in the tightness at the corner of his mouth, in the rigid arch of his eyebrows, that he is mad at her too. She still can’t bring herself to regret the risk she took for even a moment._ _

__“I passed the Crucible. I figured out how to fix the Eight Trigrams. I know how to save Naruto.”_ _

__Kakashi’s eyes widen and at the same moment Sasuke sweeps her hair off the back of her neck to do a scan of her brainstem._ _

__He freezes._ _

__“Sakura?” he whispers, “What is this?”_ _

__She knows what he’s seeing instinctually even though she’s never laid eyes on it herself. It’s a seal, simple but stark. It’s shaped in a mirror of the Uzushio spiral, however at its center, not quite kanji but still somehow eligible, is the word Master._ _

__Kakashi doesn’t move to look. He simply studies her silently for several long moments._ _

__Sakura finds that she cares about his judgement more than she did about the one that gave her the mark that now rests on the back of her neck, more than the title that rests on her shoulders. She waits, barely able to breath._ _

__Finally, Kakashi’s face cracks into an honest, crooked smile and he remarks “Turns out you didn’t need me to make your dream come true after all. You turned yourself into a threat all on your own.”_ _

__He places a hand on her shoulder, “I’m so proud of you.”_ _

__Sakura, to her eternal mortification, bursts into tears and throws herself into her Sensei’s arms._ _

__She knows she’s babbling a million things at once, about how scared she was and how she didn’t know what else to do and how she would have never in a million years been able to accomplish all this without his belief in her. Kakashi just wraps his strong, lean arms around her and smiles even as she gets snot and tears on his shirt and her hair gets in his face. After a few moments she feels Sasuke’s hand join, rubbing slow, comforting circles on her lower back._ _

__She simply lets herself fold._ _

__After five months of working herself to the bone and being quietly, constantly terrified that she wouldn’t be able to find a solution and that Naruto would _die_ because she wasn’t enough, Sakura finally feels like she can take a full breath. _ _

__After her tears subside enough she sits back on her heels. Sasuke wraps an arm around her shoulders and she is shaky enough still that she is endlessly glad for the support._ _

__“To answer your earlier question Sasuke," she explains around sniffles "the tattoo marks me as a Seal Master and when I touch it, it connects me to the collected wisdom of every Master who has come before me, stored here in the Crucible Seal.”_ _

__Sasuke blinks, blinks again, finally manages “Medical Jutsu is weird sometimes but your Fuinjutsu shit is straight up batshit insane.”_ _

__Sakara shrugs. She has no arguments with that._ _

__“So what’s the plan for the Eight Trigrams?” Kakashi asks._ _

__“Well the whole thing is going to take too long to explain now but basically we are going to need a Medic-nin, a really _really_ talented one. Sasuke you’ve gotten good but what I’m going to do… I need someone who is the best.”_ _

__Kakashi groans._ _

__Sakura tilts her head at him in confusion. That was not the response she was expecting at all._ _

__“It has to be a skilled Medic? You don’t need like… an artist or maybe a woodworker?”_ _

__She shakes her head slowly, still absolutely baffled._ _

__“And Sasuke can’t do it?”_ _

__“No, he’s talented but…”_ _

__Sasuke interrupts her “I know my limits. I won’t risk Naruto over something as foolish as my pride. We find a medic with more experience to help Sakura with whatever this is.”_ _

__Kakashi’s head drops forward in defeat and he sighs long and slow._ _

__“I know the Kunoichi we need but we’re going to have to find her and we’re going to have to bring a _lot_ of Sake for when we do.”_ _

__Sakura raises an eyebrow, “Is the Sake for her or for you?”_ _

__“ _Yes_.” Kakashi answers miserably. _ _

__Sakura laughs loudly. She’s sweaty and exhausted and she almost died today but she’s a Seal Master and she is going to save her best friend._ _

__Things are looking up._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is *checks notes* nearly 8000 words long so there's _that_. Consider it a thank you for this fic breaking 50k, which may I just say, holy fucking shit oh my _god_. 
> 
> I never once expected this to garner the following it has mostly cause it's my first ever fic but also cause it _is_ nuts. Anyway, all that goes to say, thank you all so much for your support and excitement and kindness. I'm writing this story 'cuz I love it but damn if I don't love y'all too. 
> 
> On a related note!! I'm starting a little discord server for this fic and also general Naruto related shenanigans. If you wanna join the link is [here](https://discord.gg/mUcke7BgCj). Me and Flightless are already chillin' over there so come say hi!! 
> 
> Next week you can expect a _new_ character perspective and _new shit_ to yell at me about!! ♡♡ 
> 
> Can't wait to hear y'alls thoughts on this chapter. It's easily one of my favorites to date and I hope everyone likes it as much as I do!!


End file.
